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HIV-1 inhibits IFITM3 expression to promote the infection of megakaryocytes 
Cyrine Bentaleb1 , Souad Adrouche1 , Jade Finkelstein2 , Christelle Devisme1 , Nathalie Callens1 , Claude Capron3,4 , Morgane Bomsel2 , Fernando Real1,*
1Univ. Lille, CNRS, Inserm, CHU Lille, Institut Pasteur de Lille, U1019 - UMR 9017–CIIL - Center for Infection and Immunity of Lille, F-59000 Lille, France
2Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Inserm, Institut Cochin, F-75014 Paris, France
3AP-HP, Ambroise Paré Hospital, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, France
4Université Paris Saclay, Versailles Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), F-78047 Guyancourt, France
*Correspondence to:Fernando Real , Email:fernando.real@cnrs.fr
J Mol Cell Biol, Volume 16, Issue 9, September 2024, mjae042,  https://doi.org/10.1093/jmcb/mjae042
Keyword: HIV-1, megakaryocytes, IFITM3

Despite an undetectable plasma viral load as a result of antiretroviral therapy, HIV-1-infected individuals with poor immune reconstitution harbor infectious HIV-1 within their platelets. Megakaryocytes, as platelet precursors, are the likely cellular origin of these HIV-1-containing platelets. To investigate the mechanisms that allow megakaryocytes to support HIV-1 infection, we established in vitro models of viral infection using hematopoietic stem cell-derived megakaryocytes and the megakaryocytic MEG-01 cell line. We observed HIV-1 DNA provirus integration into the megakaryocyte cell genome, self-limiting virus production, and HIV-1 protein and RNA compartmentalization, which are hallmarks of HIV-1 infection in myeloid cells. In addition, following HIV-1 infection of megakaryocyte precursors, the expression of interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 (IFITM3), an antiviral factor constitutively expressed in megakaryocytes, was inhibited in terminally differentiated HIV-1-infected megakaryocytes. IFITM3 knockdown in MEG-01 cells prior to infection led to enhanced HIV-1 infection, indicating that IFITM3 acts as an HIV-1 restriction factor in megakaryocytes. Together, these findings indicate that megakaryocyte precursors are susceptible to HIV-1 infection, leading to terminally differentiated megakaryocytes harboring virus in a process regulated by IFITM3. Megakaryocytes may thus constitute a neglected HIV-1 reservoir that warrants further study in order to develop improved antiretroviral therapies and to facilitate HIV-1 eradication.