Thread by @sigallab

We have a new publication out about the source of HIV in the brain in the face of therapy:
journals.plos.org/plospathogens/…

How do you know where someone has been? There may be tell-tale signs: mud on the soles of the shoes, hair on clothes, or some other sign on the surface from the environment.

A similar question is very important for viruses, particularly HIV - where is it lurking in the face of antiretroviral therapy. What cell is making it? The reason its important is that finding this out might give clues of how to get rid of it and go for cure, not just control.

But its tough. We did it in the brain by looking at the human proteins picked up on the virus surface as it buds out of the cell, like this:

What we found is that the HIV in people with CSF escape - virus suppressed with antiretroviral therapy in the blood, but detectable in the brain, was made at least in part in T cells

This was surprising, we thought it would be the much more numerous macrophage lineage cells. T cells are generally mobile and can go to different sites in the body. This may mean the brain may be a place where the virus lurks during therapy and from which it can easily get out.

I want to acknowledge leadership of @gil_lustig, who finally got her twitter, and @Sandile_Cele22. @farinakarim indispensable in the clinical side coordination. @ravgup33_ravi really pitched in, and we had terrific clinical collaborators: Rohen Harrichandparsad and Vinod Patel.