The hepatic stellate cell selleck products (HSC) is a central mediator in liver fibrosis. In its quiescent state, it is a vitamin A–rich cell that produces type IV collagen, the collagen characteristic of a normal basement membrane. With injury, such as in chronic hepatitis C, HSCs undergo a process of activation,

rendering them susceptible to a variety of stimuli that yield a highly proliferative, contractile, and fibrogenic cell producing predominantly type I collagen, the collagen characteristic of the cirrhotic liver. Activated HSCs express both HIV chemokine coreceptors, chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 5 (CCR5)8 and cysteine-X-cysteine receptor 4 (CXCR4),9 and recent studies suggest effects of HIV envelope protein on HSC responses.10, 11 To date there has been no evidence that activated HSCs are a cellular target for HIV infection to account for the accelerated fibrosis observed in coinfected patients. We report that activated HSCs are infectable by HIV, support viral gene expression, and are capable of transmitting infectious virus to susceptible lymphocytes through cell–cell contact. Furthermore, HIV infection of HSCs induces collagen I expression and secretion of the proinflammatory cytokine, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1). These findings high throughput screening compounds support direct profibrogenic and proinflammatory effects of HIV on

stellate cells. AZT, azidothymidine; CCR5, chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 5; CXCR4, cysteine-X-cysteine receptor medchemexpress 4; DC, dendritic cell; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; FACS, fluorescence-activated cell sorting; GFP, green

fluorescent protein; HAART, highly active antiretroviral therapy; HCV, hepatitis C virus; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; HSC, human hepatic stellate cell; iGFP, interdomain green fluorescent protein; MCP-1, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1; moi, multiplicity of infection. LX-2 cells, an immortalized human HSC line, were cultured as described.9 TZM cells, a HeLa cell line that stably expresses CD4, CXCR4, and CCR5, have been generated by introducing separate integrated copies of the luciferase and β-galactosidase genes under control of the HIV-1 promoter. MT4 cells are a human T cell line. Both TZM and MT4 cells were obtained from the National Institutes of Health AIDS Research & Reference Reagent Program. Primary HSCs were isolated from wedge sections of normal liver as described.9 Passage #3–activated HSCs from at least three different donors were used for all experiments. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors were isolated by way of Ficoll-Hypaque gradient centrifugation and CD4+ T cells were isolated by negative selection using a CD4+ T cell isolation kit (Miltenyi Biotech, Germany). Cells were cultured in RPMI medium (10% fetal bovine serum) with interleukin-2 (50 U/mL), and stimulated with phytohemagglutinin (5 μg/mL) for 2 days at 37°C.