scholarly journals Lentiviral Vectors Interfering with Virus-Induced CD4 Down-Modulation Potently Block Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Replication in Primary Lymphocytes

2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (23) ◽  
pp. 13072-13081 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hang M. Pham ◽  
Enrique R. Argañaraz ◽  
Bettina Groschel ◽  
Didier Trono ◽  
Juan Lama

ABSTRACT CD4 down-modulation is essential for the production of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infectious particles. Disease progression correlates with enhanced viral induced CD4 down-modulation, and a subset of long-term nonprogressors carry viruses defective in this function. Despite multiple pieces of evidence highlighting the importance of this function in viral pathogenesis in vivo, to date, HIV-induced CD4 down-modulation has not been used as a target for intervention. We describe here HIV-based vectors that deliver truncated CD4 molecules resistant to down-modulation by the viral products Nef and Vpu. Infection of cells previously transduced with these vectors proceeded normally, and viral particles were released in normal amounts. However, the infectivity of the released virions was reduced 1,000-fold. Lentiviral vectors expressing truncated CD4 molecules were efficient at blocking HIV-1 infectivity and replication in several cell lines and in CD4-positive primary lymphocytes. The findings presented here provide proof-of-principle that approaches targeting the virus-induced CD4 down-modulation may constitute the basis for novel anti-HIV therapies.

2006 ◽  
Vol 80 (21) ◽  
pp. 10478-10486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma C. Anderson ◽  
Andrew M. L. Lever

ABSTRACT The full-length viral RNA of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) functions both as the mRNA for the viral structural proteins Gag and Gag/Pol and as the genomic RNA packaged within viral particles. The packaging signal which Gag recognizes to initiate genome encapsidation is in the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) of the HIV-1 RNA, which is also the location of translation initiation complex formation. Hence, it is likely that there is competition between the translation and packaging processes. We studied the ability of Gag to regulate translation of its own mRNA. Gag had a bimodal effect on translation from the HIV-1 5′ UTR, stimulating translation at low concentrations and inhibiting translation at high concentrations in vitro and in vivo. The inhibition was dependent upon the ability of Gag to bind the packaging signal through its nucleocapsid domain. The stimulatory activity was shown to depend on the matrix domain of Gag. These results suggest that Gag controls the equilibrium between translation and packaging, ensuring production of enough molecules of Gag to make viral particles before encapsidating its genome.


2005 ◽  
Vol 86 (12) ◽  
pp. 3369-3373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Jeanne Dumaurier ◽  
Sophie Gratton ◽  
Simon Wain-Hobson ◽  
Rémi Cheynier

In most stages of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, cell-free viral particles can be detected in germinal centres (GCs) that are principally retained, in the form of immune complexes, on the surface of follicular dendritic cells (FDCs). The source of this virus remains unknown, although it is agreed that the FDCs themselves are not infected productively. By sequencing HIV viral DNA, genomic RNA and spliced mRNA isolated from individual splenic white pulps, it was shown here that the majority of HIV-1 viral particles are produced locally within the supporting lymphoid structure and do not result from trapping of circulating viruses or immune complexes. These findings underline the exquisite spatial organization of HIV-1 replication in vivo, suggesting a local origin for viruses trapped in splenic GCs.


1998 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 645-653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva M. Rakowicz-Szulczynska ◽  
Betty Jackson ◽  
Adriana M. Szulczynska ◽  
McClure Smith

ABSTRACT RAK antigens p120, p42, and p25 exhibit molecular and immunological similarity to the proteins encoded by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and are expressed by 95% of breast and gynecological cancer cases in women and prostate cancer cases in men. The binding of an epitope-specific anti-HIV-1 gp120 monoclonal antibody (MAb) (amino acids 308 to 322) to cancer RAK antigens has been found to be inhibited by a peptide derived from variable loop V3 of HIV-1. Breast cancer DNAs of 40 patients were PCR amplified with HIV-1 gp41-derived primers, and all of the samples were found to be positive. The DNA fragments amplified in seven blindly selected breast cancer samples were sequenced. The breast cancer DNA sequences showed at least 90% homology to the HIV-1 gene for gp41. Antisense oligonucleotides complementary to the HIV-1-like sequences inhibited reverse transcriptase activity and inhibited the growth of breast cancer cells in vitro. Viral particles detected in breast cancer cell lines were strongly immunogold labeled with the anti-HIV-1 gp120 MAb. The results obtained strongly suggest that the long-postulated breast cancer virus may, in fact, be related to HIV-1.


Blood ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 80 (8) ◽  
pp. 2128-2135 ◽  
Author(s):  
MP Busch ◽  
TH Lee ◽  
J Heitman

Abstract Various immunologic stimuli and heterologous viral regulatory elements have been shown to increase susceptibility to, and replication of, human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in lymphocytes and monocytes in vitro. Transfusion of allogeneic blood components from heterologous donors constitutes a profound immunologic stimulus to the recipient, in addition to being a potential route of transmission of lymphotropic viral infections. To investigate the hypothesis that transfusions, and particularly those containing leukocytes, activate HIV-1 replication in infected recipient cells, we cocultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from three anti-HIV-1-positive individuals with allogeneic donor PBMC, as well as partially purified populations of donor lymphocytes, monocytes, granulocytes, platelets, and red blood cells (RBC) and allogeneic cell-free plasma. Allogeneic PBMC induced a dose-related activation of HIV-1 expression in in vivo infected cells, followed by dissemination of HIV-1 to previously uninfected patient cells. Activation of HIV-1 replication was observed with donor lymphocytes, monocytes, and granulocytes, whereas no effect was seen with leukocyte-depleted RBC, platelets, or plasma (ie, therapeutic blood constituents). Allogeneic donor PBMC were also shown to upregulate HIV-1 expression in a “latently” infected cell line, and to increase susceptibility of heterologous donor PBMC to acute HIV-1 infection. Studies should be performed to evaluate whether transfusions of leukocyte-containing blood components accelerate HIV-1 dissemination and disease progression in vivo. If so, HIV-1-infected patients should be transfused as infrequently as possible and leukocyte-depleted (filtered) blood components should be used to avoid this complication.


2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (15) ◽  
pp. 7039-7047 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis M. Mansky ◽  
Sandra Preveral ◽  
Luc Selig ◽  
Richard Benarous ◽  
Serge Benichou

ABSTRACT The Vpr protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) influences the in vivo mutation rate of the virus. Since Vpr interacts with a cellular protein implicated in the DNA repair process, uracil DNA glycosylase (UNG), we have explored the contribution of this interaction to the mutation rate of HIV-1. Single-amino-acid variants of Vpr were characterized for their differential UNG-binding properties and used to trans complement vpr null mutant HIV-1. A striking correlation was established between the abilities of Vpr to interact with UNG and to influence the HIV-1 mutation rate. We demonstrate that Vpr incorporation into virus particles is required to influence the in vivo mutation rate and to mediate virion packaging of the nuclear form of UNG. The recruitment of UNG into virions indicates a mechanism for how Vpr can influence reverse transcription accuracy. Our data suggest that distinct mechanisms evolved in primate and nonprimate lentiviruses to reconcile uracil misincorporation into lentiviral DNA.


2003 ◽  
Vol 84 (10) ◽  
pp. 2715-2722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gkikas Magiorkinis ◽  
Dimitrios Paraskevis ◽  
Anne-Mieke Vandamme ◽  
Emmanouil Magiorkinis ◽  
Vana Sypsa ◽  
...  

Recombination plays a pivotal role in the evolutionary process of many different virus species, including retroviruses. Analysis of all human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) intersubtype recombinants revealed that they are more complex than described initially. Recombination frequency is higher within certain genomic regions, such as partial reverse transcriptase (RT), vif/vpr, the first exons of tat/rev, vpu and gp41. A direct correlation was observed between recombination frequency and sequence similarity across the HIV-1 genome, indicating that sufficient sequence similarity is required upstream of the recombination breakpoint. This finding suggests that recombination in vivo may occur preferentially during reverse transcription through the strand displacement-assimilation model rather than the copy-choice model.


1999 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 2376-2382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengxian Gu ◽  
Mark A. Wainberg ◽  
Nghe Nguyen-Ba ◽  
Lucille L’Heureux ◽  
Jean-Marc de Muys ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT (−)-β-d-1′,3′-Dioxolane guanosine (DXG) and 2,6-diaminopurine (DAPD) dioxolanyl nucleoside analogues have been reported to be potent inhibitors of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). We have recently conducted experiments to more fully characterize their in vitro anti-HIV-1 profiles. Antiviral assays performed in cell culture systems determined that DXG had 50% effective concentrations of 0.046 and 0.085 μM when evaluated against HIV-1IIIB in cord blood mononuclear cells and MT-2 cells, respectively. These values indicate that DXG is approximately equipotent to 2′,3′-dideoxy-3′-thiacytidine (3TC) but 5- to 10-fold less potent than 3′-azido-2′,3′-dideoxythymidine (AZT) in the two cell systems tested. At the same time, DAPD was approximately 5- to 20-fold less active than DXG in the anti-HIV-1 assays. When recombinant or clinical variants of HIV-1 were used to assess the efficacy of the purine nucleoside analogues against drug-resistant HIV-1, it was observed that AZT-resistant virus remained sensitive to DXG and DAPD. Virus harboring a mutation(s) which conferred decreased sensitivity to 3TC, 2′,3′-dideoxyinosine, and 2′,3′-dideoxycytidine, such as a 65R, 74V, or 184V mutation in the viral reverse transcriptase (RT), exhibited a two- to fivefold-decreased susceptibility to DXG or DAPD. When nonnucleoside RT inhibitor-resistant and protease inhibitor-resistant viruses were tested, no change in virus sensitivity to DXG or DAPD was observed. In vitro drug combination assays indicated that DXG had synergistic antiviral effects when used in combination with AZT, 3TC, or nevirapine. In cellular toxicity analyses, DXG and DAPD had 50% cytotoxic concentrations of greater than 500 μM when tested in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and a variety of human tumor and normal cell lines. The triphosphate form of DXG competed with the natural nucleotide substrates and acted as a chain terminator of the nascent DNA. These data suggest that DXG triphosphate may be the active intracellular metabolite, consistent with the mechanism by which other nucleoside analogues inhibit HIV-1 replication. Our results suggest that the use of DXG and DAPD as therapeutic agents for HIV-1 infection should be explored.


2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (10) ◽  
pp. 4832-4842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul L. Boyer ◽  
Stefan G. Sarafianos ◽  
Edward Arnold ◽  
Stephen H. Hughes

ABSTRACT Two distinct mechanisms can be envisioned for resistance of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) to nucleoside analogs: one in which the mutations interfere with the ability of HIV-1 RT to incorporate the analog, and the other in which the mutations enhance the excision of the analog after it has been incorporated. It has been clear for some time that there are mutations that selectively interfere with the incorporation of nucleoside analogs; however, it has only recently been proposed that zidovudine (AZT) resistance can involve the excision of the nucleoside analog after it has been incorporated into viral DNA. Although this proposal resolves some important issues, it leaves some questions unanswered. In particular, how do the AZT resistance mutations enhance excision, and what mechanism(s) causes the excision reaction to be relatively specific for AZT? We have used both structural and biochemical data to develop a model. In this model, several of the mutations associated with AZT resistance act primarily to enhance the binding of ATP, which is the most likely pyrophosphate donor in the in vivo excision reaction. The AZT resistance mutations serve to increase the affinity of RT for ATP so that, at physiological ATP concentrations, excision is reasonably efficient. So far as we can determine, the specificity of the excision reaction for an AZT-terminated primer is not due to the mutations that confer resistance, but depends instead on the structure of the region around the HIV-1 RT polymerase active site and on its interactions with the azido group of AZT. Steric constraints involving the azido group cause the end of an AZT 5′-monophosphate-terminated primer to preferentially reside at the nucleotide binding site, which favors excision.


1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 3646-3657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Salvi ◽  
Anna Rosa Garbuglia ◽  
Antonino Di Caro ◽  
Simonetta Pulciani ◽  
Francesco Montella ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We have been investigating a long-term nonprogressor who was found to be human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) seropositive in 1985 and has survived with stable CD4+ T-cell counts (>1,000 CD4 cells/μl) without any AIDS-related illness. We have previously reported that repeated attempts to measure HIV-1 RNA in the peripheral mononuclear cells obtained from this subject have invariably failed. In the present study, we have analyzed the molecular nature of the HIV-1 quasispecies infecting this patient by PCR amplification of two proviral regions, the 5′ long terminal repeat (5′LTR)/gagleader and the nef gene, directly from fresh uncultured peripheral mononuclear cells, followed by length polymorphism analysis (with 1994, 1995, and 1996 samples) and sequencing (with a 1996 sample). Only proviral forms with nef deletions were revealed by length polymorphism analysis in samples from all three time points. Sequence analysis of the nef gene from the 1996 sample confirmed the presence of similar proviral quasispecies characterized by the presence of several deletions located in thenef-alone and the nef/U3 overlapping regions. Length polymorphism analysis of the 5′LTR/gag leader region suggested the existence of two major quasispecies populations, one characterized by the presence of forms carrying deletions in the U3 region and the other showing a completely intact, full-length 5′LTR. Evidence of the role of nef gene defects in long-term survival of HIV-1-infected patients has been provided so far in two independent investigations involving patients infected with HIV through blood transfusion. Here we show the existence of a similar condition in a subject who acquired HIV-1 seropositivity through the sexual route.


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