Impact of Female Sex Hormones on the Expression of CCR5/CCR8 Co-Receptor Genes and Virus Replication in HIV-1 Infection.

We studied the effects of female sex hormones estradiol and progesterone on the expression of CCR5 and CCR8 co-receptor genes (that play an important role in the HIV-1 entry into the cell) in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) isolated from different female donors and infected with HIV-1 subtype G. Female sex hormones produced a dose-dependent effect on the replication of HIV-1 subtype G: low doses of estradiol and high doses of progesterone significantly induced CCR8 expression in PBMC of all donors, which correlated with an increase in viral load by 1.5-1.7 times on average. The exception was one donor, in whom a high dose of estradiol also induced an increase in CCR8 expression. High concentrations of progesterone also enhanced the expression of the CCR5 co-receptor. The detected differences in the co-receptor expression in infected PBMC from different donors indicates that the host genetics may also play an important role in PBMC susceptibility to HIV infection.