Distinct gene expression by expanded clones of quiescent memory CD4+ T cells harboring intact latent HIV-1 proviruses

Antiretroviral therapy controls but does not cure HIV-1 infection due to a reservoir of rare CD4 + T cells harboring latent proviruses. Little is known about the transcriptional program of latent cells. Here we report a novel strategy to enrich clones of latent cells carrying intact, replication-competent HIV-1 proviruses from blood based on their expression of unique T cell receptors. Latent cell enrichment enabled single cell transcriptomic analysis of 1,050 CD4 + T cells belonging to expanded clones harboring intact HIV-1 proviruses from 6 different individuals. The analysis revealed that most of these cells are T effector memory cells that are enriched for expression of HLA-DR, HLA-DP, CD74, CCL5, Granzymes A and K, cystatin F, LYAR and DUSP2. We conclude that expanded clones of latent cells carrying intact HIV-1 proviruses persist preferentially in a distinct CD4 + T cell population opening new possibilities for eradication. Gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data for human CD4 T cells from HIV-1 infected, aviraemic and ART treated individuals