HIV glycoprotein gp120 enhances mesenchymal stem cell migration by upregulating CXCR4 expression

HIV infection and its proteins are known to disrupt physiological differentiation of MSC; increased gp120-driven migration amplifies the total MSC population destined for ineffective and inappropriate differentiation, thus contributing to the pathogenesis of HIV-related comorbidities. Additionally, given that MSCs are permissive to HIV infection, initial cellular priming by gp120 results in increased expression of CXCR4 and could lead to co-receptor switching and cell tropism changes in chronic HIV infection and may have implications against CCR5-knockout based HIV cure strategies.