Impact of CCL27 foreskin anatomy and STIs on HIV-1 target cell availability in adolescent SA males
Prof Gray and the team of researchers compared outer and inner foreskin tissue from adolescent male medical circumcisions in South Africa to understand signals that increase HIV target cell availability in the foreskin. They measured chemokine gene expression and the impact of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) on the location and density of T and Langerhans cells. Compared to the outer foreskin, in the inner foreskin, Chemokine C–C ligand 27 (CCL27) was expressed 6.94-fold higher. The researchers showed that the “the density of CD4+CCR5+ cells/mm2 was higher in the epithelium of the inner foreskin, regardless of STI status, in parallel with higher CCL27 gene expression”.
There were also a higher number of CD4+CCR5+ cells/mm2 cells in the sub-stratum of the outer and inner foreskin in the presence of STIs while there was a higher number of CD207+ Langerhans cells (LC) in both tissues with LC cells being closer to the keratin surface of the outer foreskin in the presence of an STI.
Prof Gray and the team tested the ability of exogenous CCL27 to induce T-cell migration in foreskin tissues and they found that CD4+ T cells relocated to the inner foreskin epithelium in response to CCL27.
The paper provides "insight into the impact of CCL27 and STIs on immune and HIV-1 target cell changes in the foreskin".
Article by Bonamy Holtak