Mass Cytometric Analysis of HIV Entry, Replication, and Remodeling in Tissue CD4+ T Cells

To characterize susceptibility to HIV infection, we phenotyped infected tonsillar T cells by single-cell mass cytometry and created comprehensive maps to identify which subsets of CD4(+) T cells support HIV fusion and productive infection. By comparing HIV-fused and HIV-infected cells through dimensionality reduction, clustering, and statistical approaches to account for viral perturbations, we identified a subset of memory CD4(+) T cells that support HIV entry but not viral gene expression. These cells express high levels of CD127, the IL-7 receptor, and are believed to be long-lived lymphocytes. In HIV-infected patients, CD127-expressing cells preferentially localize to extrafollicular lymphoid regions with limited viral replication. Thus, CyTOF-based phenotyping, combined with analytical approaches to distinguish between selective infection and receptor modulation by viruses, can be used as a discovery tool.