The greatest obstacle to an HIV cure is the persistence of latently infected cellular reservoirs in people living with HIV (PLWH) taking antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, no consensus exists on the direct link between local tissue inflammation and the HIV burden. Herein, we have compared the levels of local inflammation, epithelial integrity and HIV DNA between inflamed and non-inflamed colon tissue in a PLWH who underwent a colectomy due to ulcerative colitis. We have observed a 27-fold higher frequency of cells harboring HIV DNA in inflamed compared to non-inflamed colon tissue. Analysis of the expression of occludin-1 and claudin-3 confirmed our macroscopic characterization of inflamed and non-inflamed colon. Our results confirm that increased gut permeability and inflammation are associated with a higher frequency of infected cells and suggest that restoring gut barrier integrity may be used as a strategy to reduce inflammation and HIV persistence in the gut.

艾滋病毒治愈的最大障碍是接受抗逆转录病毒疗法（ART）的艾滋病毒感染者（PLWH）中潜在感染细胞的持久存在。但是，关于局部组织炎症与HIV负担之间的直接联系尚无共识。在本文中，我们比较了由于溃疡性结肠炎而接受结肠切除术的PLWH中发炎和未发炎的结肠组织之间的局部炎症，上皮完整性和HIV DNA水平。我们已经观察到，与未发炎的结肠组织相比，发炎中携带HIV DNA的细胞发生频率高27倍。occludin-1和claudin-3表达的分析证实了我们发炎和未发炎结肠的宏观特征。