Intimate Relations: Molecular and Immunologic Interactions Between Neisseria gonorrhoeae and HIV-1

Furkan Guvenc; Rupert Kaul; Scott D Gray-Owen

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.01299

Intimate Relations: Molecular and Immunologic Interactions Between Neisseria gonorrhoeae and HIV-1

Front Microbiol. 2020 Jun 3:11:1299. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01299. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Furkan Guvenc¹, Rupert Kaul^{2

3

4}, Scott D Gray-Owen¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Abstract

While the global incidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) remains well above UNAIDS targets, sexual transmission HIV is surprisingly inefficient. A variety of host, viral and environmental factors can either increase HIV-1 shedding in the infected partner and/or increase mucosal susceptibility of the HIV-1 uninfected partner. Clinical and epidemiological studies have clearly established that Neisseria gonorrhoeae substantially enhances HIV-1 transmission, despite it not being an ulcerative infection. This review will consider findings from molecular, immunologic and clinical studies that have focused on each of these two human-restricted pathogens, in order to develop an integrative model that describes how gonococci can both increase mucosal shedding of HIV-1 from a co-infected person and facilitate virus establishment in a susceptible host.

Keywords: HIV-1; Neisseria gonorrhoeae; co-infection; infectious synergy; sexually transmitted disease; sexually transmitted infection.

Publication types

Review