Description
The mucosa that lines the gastrointestinal (GI) tracts is an important portal of entry for pathogens and provides the frontline of immune defense against HIV infection. Epithelial barrier dysfunction during HIV infection has largely been attributed to the rapid and severe depletion of CD4 T cells in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. In this study, the poential role of small non-coding microRNA (miRNA) to contribute to epithelial dysfunction was investigated in the non-human primate SIV model and microarrays were utilized to determine changes in mucosal gene expression (non-miRNA) that could be correlated to miRNA modulatiolns.