Distinct Plasma Protein Profiles Distinguish Faster from Slower Disease Progression in HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections

The asymptomatic disease stage in HIV-2 infection is approximately twice as long compared to in HIV-1 infection, still the majority of HIV-2 infected individuals progress to AIDS in the absence of antiretroviral treatment. In this study, we applied data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry analysis of blood plasma samples collected from HIV negative, and HIV-1 or HIV-2 infected individuals in Guinea-Bissau with an estimated date of HIV infection, to explore associations between plasma proteome alterations and HIV disease progression. In total, 609 proteins were quantified and mapped towards publicly available data on tissue-enhanced genes, to provide insight on the tissue-specific origin of the detected proteins. Here we identified ten proteins that could differentiate between faster and slower HIV disease progression. The analysis also suggested a larger leakage of proteins from the sigmoid colon in HIV-1 compared to HIV-2 infection. Moreover, the levels of sigmoid colon and spleen tissue proteins were associated with disease progression among all HIV infected individuals. In conclusion, these results encourage further research on the role of both target and bystander cells in HIV disease progression.