Objectives:

Glucose metabolism plays a fundamental role in supporting the growth, proliferation and effector functions of T cells. We investigated the impact of HIV infection on key processes that regulate glucose uptake and metabolism in primary CD4+ and CD8+ T cells.

Design and methods:

Thirty-eight HIV-infected treatment-naive, 35 HIV+/combination antiretroviral therapy, seven HIV+ long-term nonprogressors and 25 HIV control individuals were studied. Basal markers of glycolysis [eg glucose transporter-1 (Glut1) expression, glucose uptake, intracellular glucose-6-phosphate, and L-lactate] were measured in T cells. The cellular markers of immune activation, CD38 and HLA-DR, were measured by flow cytometry.

Results:

The surface expression of the Glut1 is up-regulated in CD4+ T cells in HIV-infected patients compared with uninfected controls. The percentage of circulating CD4+ Glut1+ T cells was significantly increased in HIV-infected patients and was not restored to normal levels following combination antiretroviral therapy. Basal markers of glycolysis were significantly higher in CD4+ Glut1+ T cells compared to CD4+ Glut1− T cells. The proportion of CD4+ Glut1+ T cells correlated positively with the expression of the cellular activation marker, HLA-DR, on total CD4+ T cells, but inversely with the absolute CD4+ T-cell count irrespective of HIV treatment status.

Conclusion:

Our data suggest that Glut1 is a potentially novel and functional marker of CD4+ T-cell activation during HIV infection. In addition, Glut1 expression on CD4+ T cells may be exploited as a prognostic marker for CD4+ T-cell loss during HIV disease progression.