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J. Virol., Jul 1996, 4451-4456, Vol 70, No. 7
MA Handley, RT Steigbigel and SA Morrison
Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), a proteinase which activates
plasminogen by cleaving at -CPGR(arrow downward)V-, was shown to cleave the
V3 loop in recombinant gp120 of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)
IIIB and MN strains, as well as a synthetic, cyclized peptide representing
the clade B consensus sequence of V3. Proteolysis occurred at the
homologous -GPGR(arrow downward)A-, an important neutralizing determinant
of HIV-1. It required soluble CD4 and was prevented by inhibitors of uPA
but not by inhibitors of likely contaminating plasma proteinases. It was
accelerated by heparin, a known cofactor for plasminogen activation. In
immune capture experiments, tight binding of uPA to viral particles, which
did not depend on CD4, was also demonstrated. Active site-directed
inhibitors or uPA diminished this binding, as did a neutralizing antibody
to V3. Addition of exogenous uPA to the laboratory-adapted IIIB strain of
HIV- 1, the macrophage-tropic field strains JR-CSF and SF-162, or a fresh
patient isolate of indeterminate tropism, followed by infection of
macrophages with the various treated viruses, resulted in severalfold
increases in subsequent viral replication, as judged by yields of reverse
transcriptase activity and p24 antigen, as well as incorporation, as judged
by PCR in situ. These responses were reversible by inhibitors or antibodies
targeting the proteinase active site or the V3 loop. We propose that uPA, a
transcriptionally regulated proteinase which is upregulated when
macrophages are HIV infected, can be bound and utilized by the virus to aid
in fusion and may be an endogenous component that is critical to the
infection of macrophages by HIV-1.
Copyright © 1996, American Society for Microbiology
A role for urokinase-type plasminogen activator in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection of macrophages
Department of Pharmacology, University Medical Center at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York, USA.
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