Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Caputi, Massimo

Abstract

The largest barrier to treatment of HIV-1 infection is the establishment of a viral reservoir constituted mostly by quiescent latently infected CD4+ T cells. This reservoir is formed through two processes: i) the infection of resting CD4+ T cells; both naïve and memory, ii) the infection of activated CD4+ T cells which then become quiescent infected cells. One goal of this project was to understand the gene expression changes occurring in naïve CD4+ T cells following activation and subsequent HIV-1 infection and how this may contribute to the establishment of a latent infection in these cells. Utilizing RNA-Seq and a series of validation assays we have identified several genes which are regulated in opposite directions during activation versus infection which we termed DEOC genes. The DEOC genes include a group of physically- and functionally-associated proteins which are key regulators of T cell activation, the cell cycle, cellular proliferation, and cellular quiescence, suggesting that modulation of these DEOC genes may help transition the infected-activated cell from an activated state to a quiescent/resting state to induce a latent infection.

Extent

99 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Thesis (MS)--Florida Atlantic University, 2022.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00014033

Format

pdf

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