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J Virol, July 1998, p. 5441-5448, Vol. 72, No. 7
Département de Microbiologie et
Immunologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal,
Québec, Canada H3C 3J7,1 and
Division of Human Retrovirology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,
Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
021152
Received 8 December 1997/Accepted 25 March 1998
Inactivation of progeny virions with chimeric virion-associated
proteins represents a novel therapeutic approach against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication. The HIV type 1 (HIV-1) Vpr
gene product, which is packaged into virions, is an attractive candidate for such a strategy. In this study, we developed Vpr-based fusion proteins that could be specifically targeted into mature HIV-1
virions to affect their structural organization and/or functional integrity. Two Vpr fusion proteins were constructed by fusing to the
first 88 amino acids of HIV-1 Vpr the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase enzyme (VprCAT) or the last 18 C-terminal amino acids of the HIV-1 Vpu
protein (VprIE). These Vpr fusion proteins were initially designed to
quantify their efficiency of incorporation into HIV-1 virions when
produced in cis from the provirus. Subsequently, CD4+ Jurkat T-cell lines constitutively expressing the
VprCAT or the VprIE fusion protein were generated with retroviral
vectors. Expression of the VprCAT or the VprIE fusion protein in
CD4+ Jurkat T cells did not interfere with cellular
viability or growth but conferred substantial resistance to HIV
replication. The resistance to HIV replication was more pronounced in
Jurkat-VprIE cells than in Jurkat-VprCAT cells. Moreover, the antiviral
effect mediated by VprIE was dependent on an intact
p6gag domain, indicating that the impairment of
HIV-1 replication required the specific incorporation of Vpr fusion
protein into virions. Gene expression, assembly, or release was not
affected upon expression of these Vpr fusion proteins. Indeed, the
VprIE and VprCAT fusion proteins were shown to affect the infectivity
of progeny virus, since HIV virions containing the VprCAT or the VprIE
fusion proteins were, respectively, 2 to 3 times and 10 to 30 times
less infectious than the wild-type virus. Overall, this study
demonstrated the successful transfer of resistance to HIV replication
in tissue cultures by use of Vpr-based antiviral genes.
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Virion-Targeted Viral Inactivation of Human
Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 by Using Vpr Fusion Proteins
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratoire de
Rétrovirologie Humaine, Département de Microbiologie et
Immunologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de
Montréal, CP 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal,
Québec, Canada H3C 3J7. Phone: (514) 343-5967. Fax: (514)
343-5995. E-mail: cohenea{at}ere.umontreal.ca.
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