Metabolomic and lipidomic profile associated with the ellite controllers of Human Immnunodeficiency Virus

Identifier:  TFG:4325

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TFG4325

Authors:  Castro Alonso, Nerea

Abstract:
A small percentage of HIV patients have the capacity to control the virus spontaneously in absence of the antirretroviral therapy, the so-called elite controllers (ECs). However, some of these patients cannot mantain this control permanently, and the phenomenon that triggers it is still unknown. The objective of the present work is the characterization of a distinctive profile of this patients by the metabolomic and lipidomic analysis, which are intended to identify potential biomarkers. To accomplish this aim, a metabolomic and lipidomic study was conducted in 46 plasma samples of ECs patients, which are classified in 3 different phenotypes. Based on the metabolomic results, 8 statistically significant metabolites were identified, allowing the origination of a possible metabolomic profile related to each of the EC groups. The lipidomic analysis revealed 4 statistically significant lipids, all being part of the triglycerides family. The combination of the stated hypothesis about both analysis reinforces the possibility of determining a distinctive profile of the 3 phenotypes of EC patients according to the alterations that they might show in their respective pathways. In fact, it was posible to associate a decreased glicolisis activity to the ECs that maintain the control, both virologic and immunologic, during all their tracking, while patients that stop being ECs manifest significally elevated piruvate levels. Moreover, a significant increase of triglycerides seems to be related to the sudden loss of virus control. In conclusion, this work has achieved its aim of fulfilling the stablished objectives and beggining to generate the metabolomic and lipidomic profiles asociated to the different ECs types. This characterization is and will be very relevant not only in the approach of new therapeutic strategies against HIV, but also in the capacity of anticipating to the loss of control of the virus in the elite controllers.