The Expression Analysis of Glucose Transporter 1 Gene in the Pumwani Commercial Sex Worker Cohort, Nairobi, Kenya

Background: Altered susceptibility to HIV1 infection has been observed in multiple cohort studies. One of the best characterized HIV1 exposed yet uninfected groups is a commercial sex worker cohort from Nairobi, Kenya. (Fowke, et al, 1996; Plummer, et al, 1999; Ball, et al, 2007) A gene expression analysis conducted showed differential regulation of the glycolysis/gluconeogenesis pathway in HIV-1 exposed yet seronegative CSWs. (Songok, et al, 2012) Glucose is utilized by lymphocytes as their primary fuel source for cell survival, size, activation and cytokine production. The first critical regulatory step in glucose metabolism is glucose entry into cells through facilitated diffusion by proteins of the glucose transporter (GLUT) family. (Fox et al, 2005; Jacobs, et al, 2008) Over-expression of GLUT1 leads to increased glucose uptake and glycolysis which is required to mount a functional immune response necessary for rapid cell growth and proliferation in T lymphocytes. (Maclver et al, 2008)