Abstract
Infections following repeated, low-dose (RLD), mucal S(H)IV exposures of macaques are used to model sexual HIV exposures for biomedical prevention testing. Different susceptibilities among animals can complicate study designs. In rhesus macaques, TRIM5 alleles Q, CypA, and TFP are resistance factors for infection with some S(H)IV strains, but not for SIVmac239 due to its capsid properties. SIVmac239-derived SHIVSF162P3 has been demonstrated to reproducibly infect mucosally in vaginal and rectal RLD models. To further test the suitability of SHIVSF162P3 for RLD models, we studied the influence of the TRIM5 genotype on susceptibility to rectal RLD infection and on plasma viremia by analyzing 43 male Indian rhesus macaques from control arms of completed studies. The median number of exposures required for infection was three (Q/Q, n=4) (TRIM5 alleles, number of macaques, respectively), four (Q/CypA, n=7), three (TFP/Q, n=15), three (TFP/TFP, n=15), and two (TFP/CypA, n=2); TRIM5(CypA/CypA) was not represented in our study. Median peak viremia (log10 viral copies/ml) in infected animals was 7.4 (Q/Q, n=4), 7.2 (Q/CypA, n=6), 7.3 (TFP/Q, n=13), 7.1 (TFP/TFP, n=15), and 6.5 (TFP/CypA; n=2). Neither susceptibility nor peak viremia was significantly different (log rank test, Kruskal-Wallis test, respectively). Rhesus macaques' susceptibility to RLD SHIVSF162P3 is independent of the TRIM5 TFP, CypA, and Q alleles, with the limitation that the power to detect any impact of CypA/CypA and TFP/CypA genotypes was nonexistent or low, due to absence or infrequency, respectively. The finding that TRIM5 alleles do not restrict mucosal infection or ensuing replication rates suggests that SHIVSF162P3 is indeed suitable for RLD experimentation.