Absence of cGAS-mediated type I IFN responses in HIV-1–infected T cells
Carina Elsner, Aparna Ponnurangam, Julia Kazmierski, Thomas Zillinger, Jenny Jansen, Daniel Tödt, Katinka Döhner, Shuting Xu, Aurélie Ducroux, Nils Kriedemann, Angelina Malassa, Pia‐Katharina Larsen, Gunther Hartmann, Winfried Barchet, Eike Steinmann, Ulrich Kalinke, Beate Sodeik, Christine Goffinet
Abstract
Significance Whether HIV-1 infection triggers cGAS-mediated immune responses in CD4 + T cells remains debated. It is important to investigate to which extent HIV-1–infected T cells contribute to IFN production and expression of antiviral interferon-stimulated genes. By analyzing cellular responses upon productive HIV-1 infection or transduction, we demonstrate that lentiviruses and gammaretroviruses can infect and spread in primary CD4 + T cells and T cell lines without alarming the cGAS-mediated DNA sensing machinery, probably due to their replication strategy that minimizes the abundance of cGAS-sensitive DNA PAMPs.