Differential expression of microRNAs in monocytes and derived macrophages in culture.. Differential expression of microRNAs in monocytes and derived macrophages in culture.

HIV-1 infection of monocytes/macrophages is modulated by several host factors. For instance, although HIV-1 successfully enters monocytes, antiviral restriction factors inhibit HIV-1 productive infection in these cells. We recently identified two microRNAs, miR-221 and miR-222, which limit HIV-1 entry during infection of monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) by down-regulating CD4 expression. Interestingly, CD4 is also down regulated during the differentiation of monocytes into macrophages. In this study, we compared microRNA expression in monocytes and macrophages by RNAseq and found that miR-221/miR-222 are enhanced in macrophages.Taken together, these results show that both miR-221 and miR-222 act as modulators of CD4 mRNA expression throughout the monocyte/macrophage lineage, having roles in their differentiation, activation processes and modulating macrophage resistance to HIV-1. Overall design: Macrophages derived from the blood of 2 different adults (n=2 adults) were used. MicroRNAseq was performed on monocytes and their corresponding derived macrophages.