J Virol, August 1998, p. 6858-6866, Vol. 72, No. 8
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Department of Medicine,
Received 30 September 1997/Accepted 12 May 1998
A heterologous feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) expression
system permitted high-level expression of FIV proteins and efficient production of infectious FIV in human cells. These results identify the
FIV U3 element as the sole restriction to the productive phase of replication in nonfeline cells. Heterologous FIV
expression in a variety of human cell lines resulted in
profuse syncytial lysis that was FIV env specific, CD4
independent, and restricted to cells that express CXCR4, the
coreceptor for T-cell-line-adapted strains of human
immunodeficiency virus. Stable expression of human CXCR4 in
CXCR4-negative human and rodent cell lines resulted in extensive
FIV Env-mediated, CXCR4-dependent cell fusion and infection. In feline
cells, stable overexpression of human CXCR4 resulted in increased
FIV infectivity and marked syncytium formation during FIV
replication or after infection with FIV Env-expressing vectors. The
use of CXCR4 is a fundamental feature of lentivirus biology independent of CD4 and a shared cellular link to infection and
cytopathicity for distantly related lentiviruses
that cause AIDS. Their conserved use implicates chemokine receptors as
primordial lentivirus receptors.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address for E. M. Poeschla: Department of Medicine 0665, University of California, San
Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0665. Phone: (619) 534-4304. Fax: (619)
552-7416. E-mail: epoeschla{at}ucsd.edu. Mailing address for
D. J. Looney: Department of Medicine 0678, University of
California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0678. Phone: (619) 552-8585, ext. 2626. Fax: (619) 552-7416. E-mail: dlooney{at}ucsd.edu.
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