VIH-1 Colo-rectal Transmission by Infected Semen Cells and Effects of Seminal Plasma ex Vivo (CellspermVIH)

VIH-1 Colo-rectal Transmission by Infected Semen Cells and Effects of Seminal Plasma ex Vivo

The objective of our project is to determine the infected seminal cell types and the molecular mechanisms involved in HIV cell-associated transmission in the colo-rectal mucosa, using conditions as close as possible to real life, i.e. seminal leukocytes and seminal plasma from HIV-infected donors and tissue explants

This project relies on:

• our expertise of HIV in semen and male genital tract and our experience in organotypic cultures;
• a network of infectious diseases and reproductive biology clinicians to collect, analyze and process seminal cells and seminal plasma from HIV+ donors;
• the expertise in confocal microscopy and ex vivo colo-rectal model. State of the art culture of colo-rectal tissues, primary cell culture and infection, confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, Polymerase Chain Reaction and Luminex assays for cytokine measurements will be the methodologies primarily used in this project.

Inclusion Criteria:

• HIV-1 infected patients who have never been treated by antiretroviral therapy
• Signature of informed consent
• Affiliation to social service

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients' general condition not allowing protocol follow-up
• Patients with an ejaculation disorder
• Patients unable to perform semen sampling
• Patients with chemotherapy or radiotherapy antecedents
• Patients with very severe oligospermia (≤1million/mL of spermatozoa)
• Patients with active genital infection
• Protected subjects