Figure 1.

HIV infection damages the intestinal mucosal barrier and induces intestinal microecological dysbiosis. In the early stage of acute HIV infection, CD4⁺ T cells are infected and damaged. In addition, HIV infection induces a significant decrease in ILC3s. This leads to a decrease injunctions between intestinal endothelial cells. Compared with healthy controls (a), HIV infection (b) upregulates the abundance of pro-inflammatory enteric pathogen species and pathobiont viruses, and downregulates the abundance of intestinal microecological homeostasis-maintaining bacterial species. This increases the risk of secondary infection. Decreased levels of antimicrobial peptides and probiotic metabolites will further aggravate dysbiosis of the intestinal microecology.