Expression data from aged SIV-infected macaques

It has been hypothesized that lentiviral infection might exacerbate age-related neurodegenerative processes. This study used microarrays to detail gene expression in the midfrontal cortex from aged macaques chronically infected with SIVmac251 with and without antiretroviral therapy along with non-infected counterparts. RNA from midfrontal cortex samples was taken from aged female Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) of Chinese origin (range = 14.7-24.8 years). Half of the macaques (n=12) were infected with SIVmac251, while the other half (n=11) were mock-infected controls. After 10 months of infection, half of both the infected and mock-infected macaques received daily subcutaneous doses of reverse transcriptase inhibitors TDF and FTC for an additional 6 months. The other macaques received saline in the 6 month period. At the end of the treatment period, brain sections from each animal were queried for evidence of SIV infection. Based on the histological findings, macaques were organized into the following groups for gene expression profiling by array: aged SIV-infected (n=4); aged SIV-infected with antiretroviral therapy (n=3); aged SIV-infected with meningitis (n=1); aged SIV-infected with rhesus CMV meningoencephalitis (n=1); aged with SIV encephalitis (n=2); aged control (n=6); aged control with antiretroviral therapy (n=5). For comparison, RNA from midfrontal cortex of non-infected (n=6) and SIV encephalitic (n=2) macaques were also examined.