Single-cell immune profiling reveals the impact of antiretroviral therapy on HIV-1-induced immune dysfunction, T cell clonal expansion, and HIV-1 persistence in vivo

Abstract

Despite antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV-1 persists in proliferating T cell clones that increase over time. To understand whether early ART affects HIV-1 persistence in vivo, we performed single-cell ECCITE-seq and profiled 89,279 CD4⁺ T cells in paired samples during viremia and after immediate versus delayed ART in six people in the randomized interventional Sabes study. We found that immediate ART partially reverted TNF responses while delayed ART did not. Antigen and TNF responses persisted despite immediate ART and shaped the transcriptional landscape of CD4⁺ T cells, HIV-1 RNA⁺ cells, and T cell clones harboring them (clone_HIV-1). Some HIV-1 RNA⁺ cells reside in the most clonally expanded cytotoxic T cell populations (GZMB and GZMK Th1 cells). Clone_HIV-1⁺ were larger in clone size, persisted despite ART, and exhibited transcriptional signatures of antigen, cytotoxic effector, and cytokine responses. Using machine-learning algorithms, we identified markers for HIV-1 RNA⁺ cells and clone_HIV-1⁺ as potential therapeutic targets. Overall, by combining single-cell immune profiling and T cell expansion dynamics tracking, we identified drivers of HIV-1 persistence in vivo.