Sex-Specific TLR7 Immune Responses in 1,326 People Living with HIV

1,326 antiretroviral therapy-suppressed individuals living with HIV, including 50 spontaneous controllers, and 43 people living without HIV had their peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated ex vivo with the TLR7 agonist imiquimod. The dataset, authored by Alisa Huber and last updated in April 2026, includes cytokine profiling and transcriptome analysis by RNA sequencing to characterize sex-specific immune responses. Single-cell RNA-sequencing data from unstimulated PBMCs of an additional 290 individuals living with HIV is also included.

Use Cases

• Compare sex-specific cytokine production (e.g., IL-1β, MIP-1α, IFNγ) following TLR7 activation based on the described experimental results.
• Analyze sex-dependent gene expression programs and interferon-stimulated gene (e.g., IRF7, ISG15) induction described in the transcriptomic analysis.
• Investigate cell-type-specific responses, such as IRF7 upregulation in plasmacytoid dendritic cells, using the referenced single-cell RNA sequencing data.

Strengths

• Includes data from a cohort of 1,369 total participants (1,326 living with HIV, 43 without), providing a substantial sample size.
• Integrates multiple data modalities: cytokine profiling, bulk RNA sequencing, and single-cell RNA sequencing from 290 additional individuals.
• Explicitly compares immune responses between sexes and between people living with and without HIV, as detailed in the description.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The cohort is described as male-biased (1,134 men vs. 192 women living with HIV), which may affect the generalizability of findings for women.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Alisa Huber

Collection Method

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated ex vivo with imiquimod, followed by cytokine profiling and RNA sequencing.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-21 05:34:14; freshness should be verified.