AUTHOR=Mates Jessica M. , Yao Zhili , Cheplowitz Alana M. , Suer Ozan , Phillips Gary S. , Kwiek Jesse J. , Rajaram Murugesan V. S. , Kim Jonghan , Robinson John M. , Ganesan Latha P. , Anderson Clark L. TITLE=Mouse Liver Sinusoidal Endothelium Eliminates HIV-Like Particles from Blood at a Rate of 100 Million per Minute by a Second-Order Kinetic Process JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=8 YEAR=2017 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2017.00035 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2017.00035 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

We crafted human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-like particles of diameter about 140 nm, which expressed two major HIV-1 proteins, namely, env and gag gene products, and used this reagent to simulate the rate of decay of HIV from the blood stream of BALB/c male mice. We found that most (~90%) of the particles were eliminated (cleared) from the blood by the liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs), the remainder from Kupffer cells; suggesting that LSECs are the major liver scavengers for HIV clearance from blood. Decay was rapid with kinetics suggesting second order with respect to particles, which infers dimerization of a putative receptor on LSEC. The number of HIV-like particles required for saturating the clearance mechanism was approximated. The capacity for elimination of blood-borne HIV-like particles by the sinusoid was 112 million particles per minute. Assuming that the sinusoid endothelial cells were about the size of glass-adherent macrophages, then elimination capacity was more than 540 particles per hour per endothelial cell.