HIV Neuroinfection and Alzheimer’s Disease: Similarities and Potential Links?

Geoffrey Canet (1) , Chloé Dias (2) , Audrey Gabelle (3) , Yannick Simonin (2) , Fabien Gosselet (4) , Nicola Marchi (5) , Alain Makinson (6, 7) , Edouard Tuaillon (2) , Philippe van de Perre (2) , Laurent Givalois (1) , Sara Salinas (2)

1 MMDN - Mécanismes moléculaires dans les démences neurodégénératives
2 Pathogénèse et contrôle des infections chroniques (PCCI)
3 Cellules Souches, Plasticité Cellulaire, Médecine Régénératrice et Immunothérapies (IRMB)
4 LBHE - Laboratoire de Physiopathologie de la Barrière Hémato-Encéphalique
5 IGF - Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle
6 TransVIHMI - Recherches Translationnelles sur le VIH et les maladies infectieuses endémiques et émergentes
7 Département des Maladies Infectieuses [CHRU Montpellier]

Environmental factors such as chemicals, stress and pathogens are now widely believed to play important roles in the onset of some brain diseases, as they are associated with neuronal impairment and acute or chronic inflammation. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by progressive synaptic dysfunction and neurodegeneration that ultimately lead to dementia. Neuroinflammation also plays a prominent role in AD and possible links to viruses have been proposed. In particular, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can pass the blood-brain barrier and cause neuronal dysfunction leading to cognitive dysfunctions called HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). Similarities between HAND and HIV exist as numerous factors involved in AD such as members of the amyloid and Tau pathways, as well as stress-related pathways or blood brain barrier (BBB) regulators, seem to be modulated by HIV brain infection, leading to the accumulation of amyloid plaques or neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) in some patients. Here, we summarize findings regarding how HIV and some of its proteins such as Tat and gp120 modulate signaling and cellular pathways also impaired in AD, suggesting similarities and convergences of these two pathologies.

Mots clés: HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders; hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis; neuroinflammation; viral neuroinfection; Alzheimer's disease

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Geoffrey Canet, Chloé Dias, Audrey Gabelle, Yannick Simonin, Fabien Gosselet, et al.. HIV Neuroinfection and Alzheimer’s Disease: Similarities and Potential Links?. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 2018, 12, ⟨10.3389/fncel.2018.00307⟩. ⟨hal-02130334⟩