Background
Visceral leishmaniasis has emerged as an important opportunistic disease among patients infected with HIV-1. Both HIV-1 and the protozoan parasite Leishmania can productively infect cells of the macrophage-dendritic cell lineage. Methodology/principal findings: Here we demonstrate that Leishmania infantum amastigotes increase HIV-1 production when human primary dendritic cells (DCs) are cocultured together with autologous CD4(+) T cells. Interestingly, the promastigote form of the parasite does not modulate virus replication. Moreover, we report that amastigotes promote virus replication in both cell types. Our
Significance
Altogether these findings suggest that the presence of Leishmania within DC/T-cell conjugates leads to an enhancement of virus production and demonstrate that HIV-1 and Leishmania can establish complex interactions in such a cellular microenvironment.