There is currently significant controversy regarding whether human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) can become infected with HIV-1; some but not all investigators have detected HIV-1 in human HSCs of infected patients (1, 2). Lentiviruses do successfully infect nondividing cells, but HIV-1 infection of human HSCs in culture is inefficient compared to that in activated T cells (3)(4)(5). A significant body of work has identified postintegration silencing as a major mechanism employed by murine stem cells (MSCs) to restrict retroviruses, but human HSCs may be different. The point in the retroviral replication cycle at which retroviruses are blocked in human HSCs remains unknown, and whether this involves a preintegration block or is due to transcriptional silencing of integrated proviruses has not been studied in detail (6-10).This investigation evaluated infection of primary cord-derived human CD34 ϩ cells, a mixed population composed of true human HSCs (Lin Ϫ 34 ϩ 38 Ϫ 90 ϩ 45RA dim ) as well as several hematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC) types. We identified a block occurring prior to viral DNA integration as a major factor in the nonpermissiveness of cord-derived primary CD34 ϩ cells for HIV-1 infection.
Transduction of primary cord-derived CD34؉ cells by lentiviral vectors is inefficient at low MOIs. Primary human cordderived CD34 ϩ cells were used to study the efficiency of lentiviral transduction under various conditions. Each experimental replicate was performed independently with primary human CD34 ϩ cells from different donors. CD34 ϩ cells were isolated with magnetic beads from cord blood samples obtained from the Long Island Blood Service or obtained preisolated from AllCells (11,12). CD34 ϩ cells were put into culture in serum-free VIVO-X 20 medium. These cells were either cultured in the absence of cytokines or prestimulated for 24 h with various cytokines, singly or in combination, prior to exposure to preparations of pseudotyped lentiviral vectors. Vesicular stomatitis virus G (VSV-G)-pseudotyped virus with a modified pNL4.3 HIV-1-based core was prepared by cotransfecting 293T cells with a pNL4.3.mCherry.RϪ .E Ϫ HIV-1-based plasmid lacking env and vpr genes and having an mCherry open reading frame (ORF) instead of the nef gene, together with a VSV-G expression plasmid (13). We used a VSV-G envelope to bypass cell entry limitations and to look specifically at postentry events. Multiplicities of infection (MOIs) were calculated based on viral titers of mCherry transduction units, determined by infection of the permissive 293T cell line with serial dilutions of the virus preparation. The cells were preincubated for 24 h with no cytokines, Flt3 ligand (FLT3L) at 100 ng/ml, stem cell factor (SCF) at 100 ng/ml, thrombopoietin (TPO) at 100 ng/ml, or all three cytokines at 100 ng/ml. These cells were then exposed to pseudotyped virus by spinoculation at 37°C and 2,000 rpm for 60 min. Cells were then left in culture for 72 h at 37°C and evaluated using flow cytometry and PCR. All experiments were performed i...