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J. Virol., Feb 1997, 883-890, Vol 71, No. 2
EJ Platt, N Madani, SL Kozak and D Kabat
Recent evidence suggests that primary patient isolates of T-cell-tropic
human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1 ) have lower affinities for CD4
than their laboratory-adapted derivatives, that this may partly result from
tighter gp120-gp41 bonds that constrain the CD4 binding sites of the
primary viruses, and that selection for increased CD4 affinity may be the
principal factor in laboratory adaptation of HIV-1 (S. L. Kozak, E. J.
Platt, N. Madani, F. E. Ferro, Jr., K. Peden, and D. Kabat, J. Virol.
71:873-882, 1997). These conclusions were based on studies with a panel of
HeLa-CD4 cell clones that differ in CD4 levels over a broad range, with
laboratory-adapted viruses infecting all clones with equal efficiencies and
primary T-cell-tropic viruses infecting the clones in proportion to
cellular CD4 levels. Additionally, all of the primary and
laboratory-adapted T-cell-tropic viruses efficiently used CXCR-4 (fusin) as
a coreceptor. To test these conclusions by an independent approach, we
studied mutations in the laboratory-adapted virus LAV/IIIB that alter the
CD)4 binding region of gp120 and specifically reduce CD4 affinities of free
gp 120 by 85 to 98% (U. Olshevsky et al., J. Virol. 64:5701-5707, 1990).
These mutations reduced virus titers to widely varying extents that ranged
from severalfold to several orders of magnitude and converted infectivities
on the HeLa-CD4 panel from CD4 independency to a high degree of CD4
dependency that resembled the behavior of primary patient viruses. The
relative infectivities of the mutants correlated closely with their
sensitivities to inactivation by soluble CD4 but did not correlate with the
relative CD4 affinities of their free gp120s. Most of the mutations did not
substantially alter envelope glycoprotein synthesis, processing, expression
on cell surfaces, incorporation into virions, or rates of gp120 shedding
from virions. However, one mutation (D457R) caused a decrease in gp160
processing by approximately 80%. The fact that several mutations increased
rates of spontaneous viral inactivation (especially D368P) suggests that
HIV-1 life spans may be determined by structural stabilities of viral
envelope glycoproteins. All of the wild-type and mutant viruses were only
slowly and inefficiently adsorbed onto cultured CD4-positive cells at 37
degrees C, and the gradual declines in viral titers in the media were
caused almost exclusively by spontaneous inactivation rather than by
adsorption. The extreme inefficiency with which infectious HIV-1 is able to
infect cultured susceptible CD4-positive cells in standard assay conditions
casts doubt on previous inferences that the vast majority of retrovirions
produced in cultures are noninfectious. Apparent infectivity of
T-cell-tropic HIV-1 in culture is limited by productive associations with
CD4 and is influenced in an interdependent manner by CD4 affinities of
viral gp120-gp41 complexes and quantities of cell surface CD4.
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology
Infectious properties of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 mutants with distinct affinities for the CD4 receptor
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland 97201-3098, USA.
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