Metabolite profiles of human immunodeficiency virus infected CD4+ T cells and macrophages using LC–MS/MS analysis

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infects both activated CD4+ T cells and macrophages. We tested if liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) technology can monitor metabolic alterations induced by HIV-1 in the infected cells. Here we monitored glucose uptake and conducted LC–MS/MS-based metabolomic analysis in HIV-1 infected primary human CD4+ T cells and a macrophage model system: differentiated U1 (HIV-1 producing) and differentiated U937 (control) cells. HIV-1 infected CD4+ T cells have higher glucose uptake and increases in several metabolite pool sizes, whereas HIV-1 producing macrophages had substantial reductions in glucose uptake and steady state glycolytic intermediates. This data suggests that the two HIV-1 target cell types exhibit very different metabolic outcomes during viral production. This study also validates the LC–MS/MS technology as an effective metabolomic approach to monitor various metabolic alterations made by HIV-1 infection.