The latent reservoir for HIV-1 in resting memory CD4⁺ T cells is the major barrier to curing HIV-1 infection. Studies of HIV-1 latency have focused on regulation of viral gene expression in cells in which latent infection is established. However, it remains unclear how infection initially becomes latent. Here we described a unique set of properties of CD4⁺ T cells undergoing effector-to-memory transition including temporary upregulation of CCR5 expression and rapid downregulation of cellular gene transcription. These cells allowed completion of steps in the HIV-1 life cycle through integration but suppressed HIV-1 gene transcription, thus allowing the establishment of latency. CD4⁺ T cells in this stage were substantially more permissive for HIV-1 latent infection than other CD4⁺ T cells. Establishment of latent HIV-1 infection in CD4⁺ T could be inhibited by viral-specific CD8⁺ T cells, a result with implications for elimination of latent HIV-1 infection by T cell-based vaccines.

静息记忆CD4 ⁺ T细胞中HIV-1的潜在储存库是治愈HIV-1感染的主要障碍。HIV-1潜伏期的研究集中于在建立潜伏感染的细胞中调节病毒基因表达。但是，目前尚不清楚感染最初是如何潜伏的。在这里，我们描述了经历效应子到内存过渡的CD4 ⁺ T细胞的一组独特属性，包括CCR5表达的暂时上调和细胞基因转录的快速下调。这些细胞通过整合完成了HIV-1生命周期中的步骤，但抑制了HIV-1基因的转录，从而建立了潜伏期。CD4 ⁺与其他CD4 ⁺ T细胞相比，此阶段的T细胞对HIV-1潜在感染的允许更大。病毒特异性CD8 ⁺ T细胞可抑制CD4 ⁺ T中潜在HIV-1感染的建立，这一结果对消除基于T细胞的疫苗对HIV-1潜在感染的消除具有影响。