Depressed neurofilament expression associates with apolipoprotein E3/E4 genotype in maturing human fetal neurons exposed to HIV-1.

Exposure of differentiating human neural progenitor cells (NEP) to HIV-1 results in a neuronal“failure to thrive” phenotype characterized by a relative decrease in neurofilament-light (NF-L) expression. However,when NEP were segregated by their apolipoproteinE genotype, differentiating apolipoprotein E3/E4 cells showed reduced NF-L expression upon HIV-1 exposure,but differentiating apolipoprotein E3/E3 or apolipoproteinE4/E4 cells did not. These data suggest that apolipoproteinE genotype is a host factor that could affect the development of neurocognitive dysfunction in HIV-1 infected individuals.