Tumor necrosis factor-alpha stimulates both apical and basal production of HIV in polarized human intestinal HT29 cells.

The human colon epithelial cell line HT29 can be infected by selected strains of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) [9]. In the present study, it is shown that tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is a potent stimulator of HIV replication in chronically infected differentiated HT29 cells, but not in undifferentiated cells. The polarity of HIV production upon TNF-alpha stimulation has been studied in polarized monolayers of differentiated HT29 cells grown on porous-bottomed dishes. It is shown that the cytokine induced a dramatic increase of HIV production through the two opposite sides of the monolayer, i.e. the apical and basolateral plasma membrane domains. The effect of TNF-alpha was mainly localized at the level of viral mRNA synthesis as demonstrated by in situ hybridization. These data support the concept that cytokines released as a result of intestinal inflammatory responses could promote HIV replication and contribute to the gastrointestinal disease in HIV-infected patients.