Screening RNA from human uninfected macrophages, activated macrophages and T cells

The Fox laboratory studies the SIV infection of rhesus monkeys as a model for HIV/AIDS, focusing on central nervous system infection, immunity, and brain dysfunction that develops following infection. Previous Fox lab data shows that virions derived from macrophages and T-cells differ in infectivity in a manner based solely on their cellular origin, and that these differences can be influenced by the removal of various glycans from the surface proteins present on the virion. This study examines the glycosylation pathways functioning in human macrophages and T-cells, in the context of examining how differences in the glycosylation pathways in these cell types might influence the infectivity of viral particles derived from macrophages vs. those derived from T-cells. RNA was prepared from uninfected, activated a) human macrophages and b) T-cells and sent to Microarray Core (E). Samples were prepared in triplicate, with 3 biological replicates from each cell type. The RNA was amplified, labeled, and hybridized to the GLYCOv3 microarrays. Data was analyzed to determine the active glycosylation pathways in these cell types.