Profiling of proteome changes in plasma of HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy

Purpose Antiretroviral therapy (ART) prevents human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 onward transmission and disease progression, leading to excellent prognosis in people living with HIV-1 (PWH). However, side effects, complications, and impaired immune reconstitution persist in some patients treated with ART. We aimed to profile proteome changes in plasma before and after ART to identify the molecular pathways altered by ART. Experimental Design Quantitative proteomics analysis based on tandem mass tag (TMT) labeling was used to profile proteome changes of paired plasma samples from HIV-1 patients before receiving ART and after ART treatment. Results A total of 1398 protein groups (PGs) were identified, in which 18 proteins were downregulated and 50 were upregulated in plasma from ART treated patients. Based on Ingenuity Pathway analysis (IPA), gap junction signaling and actin cytoskeleton signaling were enriched among upregulated proteins, while downregulated proteins were mainly participated in IL-15 signaling pathway. Patients with the low level of CSF1R and the high levels of MINPP1 and TGM3 showed better CD4 + T-cell recovery. Conclusions The present study provided plasma proteome changes after ART to elucidate the underlying mechanistic pathways in response to ART, and also identified potential targets to prompt immune reconstitution.