Is the Kidney a Reservoir for HIV?

The kidney has been proposed to be a reservoir for HIV, but definitive evidence has been elusive. Now, in an instructive case report, investigators analyzed whether a kidney transplanted from a donor with HIV could transmit virus to a recipient with HIV.

The recipient was on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and had an undetectable viral load. The deceased donor had an HIV load of approximately 180,000 copies/mL. Donor and recipient viral strains were distinguished by in-depth sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The investigators identified donor HIV sequences in the urine and blood of the recipient up to 16 days after transplantation, but not at later time points. They found HIV sequences from both the donor and the recipient in renal epitheli…