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Journal of Virology, October 1998, p. 8380-8383, Vol. 72, No. 10
AIDS Immunopathogenesis Unit,
Received 8 June 1998/Accepted 14 July 1998
U937 cell clones which sustain efficient or poor replication of
human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) (referred to herein as plus
clones and minus clones, respectively) have been previously described.
1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 (vitamin D3) potently induced HIV-1
replication and proviral DNA accumulation in minus clones but not in
plus clones. Vitamin D3 did not induce NF- Chemokine receptors have been
recently shown to act as human immunodeficiency (HIV) coreceptors
together with CD4 for viral entry (10, 26). Understanding
which physiological factors regulate HIV-coreceptor expression in
CD4+ cells is of great importance for developing strategies
aimed at curtailing or preventing viral spreading in vivo.
The human promonocytic leukemia cell line U937 (34), which
expresses both CD4 and CXCR4, is a well-known target for CXCR4-using (X4) T-cell-line-adapted (TCLA) strains of HIV type 1 (HIV-1) (1,
6, 12, 19, 23, 31). Efficient and inefficient patterns (referred
to herein as plus patterns and minus patterns, respectively) of X4
virus replication have been described among U937 cellular clones by us
(2, 13) and others (4, 18). Recently, the
deficient ability of U937 minus clones (i.e., those demonstrating minus
patterns) has been explained by the lack of fusogenic capacity for TCLA
viruses in spite of good levels of CXCR4 expression (23).
1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 (vitamin D3), a well-characterized
differentiating agent for myelomonocytic cells (28), was
previously reported to increase HIV expression in chronically infected
U937 cells (21), including stimulated U1 cells
(14). Plus or minus U937 cells (2 × 105/ml) were adsorbed with pelleted
HIV-1LAI/IIIB propagated on the H9 T cell line (Advanced
Biotechnology, Inc., Columbia, Md.) for 1 h at 37°C, washed, and
seeded in duplicate cultures in the presence or absence of vitamin D3
in 48-well plastic plates. Culture supernatants were tested for
Mg2+-dependent reverse transcriptase (RT) activity
(13). Strikingly, stimulation with vitamin D3 upregulated
HIV replication in minus clones to levels comparable to those observed
in parallel cultures of infected plus cells. In contrast, vitamin D3
did not modulate viral replication in U937 plus clones (Fig.
1).
Modulation of NF-
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 Upregulates Functional
CXCR4 Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Coreceptors in U937 Minus
Clones: NF-
B-Independent Enhancement of Viral
Replication
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ABSTRACT
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Abstract
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B activation but
selectively upregulated CXCR4 expression in minus clones. The CXCR4
ligand stromal-cell derived factor-1 induced Ca2+ fluxes
and inhibited both constitutive and vitamin D3-enhanced HIV replication
in minus clones.
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TEXT
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Abstract
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FIG. 1.
Vitamin D3 selectively upregulates viral replication in
U937 minus clones. One minus clone and one plus clone were infected
with H9-derived HIV-1LAI/IIIB in the absence of vitamin D3
(unstimulated) [Unst.]) or presence of 10 nM vitamin D3 (Vit. D3).
Mean values of duplicate cultures are shown. The data are
representative of four independently performed experiments, including
two additional minus clones and one plus clone. Low but detectable
levels of viral replication were observed in minus clones (peak RT
activity, 930 cpm/µl at day 17 postinfection).
B activation by vitamin D3 has been documented in
different cell types (9, 37). Therefore, time course experiments were performed (5, 13) with plus and minus
clones stimulated with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-
), phorbol
12,myristate-13,acetate (PMA), or vitamin D3. However, unlike TNF-
or PMA, vitamin D3 stimulation did not induce activation of NF-
B in
either type of U937 clones, whether they were uninfected (Fig.
2) or infected with HIV-1 (data not
shown).

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FIG. 2.
Vitamin D3 does not induce NF-
B binding in U937 plus
and minus cells. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays were performed
with cell extracts from unstimulated (Unst.) and stimulated (TNF-
, 2 ng/ml; vitamin D3, 10 nM (Vit. D3); PMA, 10 nM) plus and minus cells at
the indicated time points. Vitamin D3 failed to induce NF-
B
activation also when cells were examined at a later time point (20 h).
The NF-
B probe used and the molecular dissection of the NF-
B
complexes from plus and minus clones have been previously described
(5, 13). An asterisk indicates the truncated form of p65.
Lack of fusogenic capacity of X4 HIV-1 in spite of functional CXCR4 receptors has been reported as a correlate of the so-called resistance of U937 minus clones to supporting viral replication (23). U937 minus cells showed mean fluorescence intensities for CXCR4 lower, although more stable, than those of plus clones, whereas a relative downmodulation of the chemokine receptor occurred in plus cells after 4 to 5 days of culture (Fig. 3A). In agreement with a previous study (23), CXCR4 was a functional chemokine receptor in U937 minus clones in that Ca2+ fluxes were promptly demonstrated after stimulation by its ligand stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) (Fig. 3B).
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Vitamin D3 has been shown to upregulate CXCR4 mRNA in the promyelocytic cell line HL-60 (22). Consistent with its effect on HIV replication, a selective upregulation of CXCR4 mRNA expression (not shown) and cell surface density was observed in vitamin D3-treated minus clones (Fig. 4A) but not in U937 plus cells (data not shown). In contrast, vitamin D3 did not affect CD4 surface expression in minus clones (data not shown).
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Minus U937 cells were differentiated for 72 h with vitamin D3 and then infected with DNase-treated HIV-1LAI/IIIB previously propagated and titered on phytohemagglutinin-blasts (multiplicity of infection = 1). After virus adsorption for 1 h at 37°C, excess virus was removed by extensive washing. Accumulation of HIV-1 proviral DNA was quantified by real-time PCR (16) with an ABI Prism 7700 Sequence Detector (Perkin-Elmer Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif.). The following primer pair set and probe in gag were used: forward primer, for (5'-ACA TCA AGC AGC CAT GCA AAT-3'); reverse primer, rev (5'-ATC TGG CCT GGT GCA ATA GG-3'); and probe, probe [5'(FAM) CAT CAA TGA GGA AGC TGC AGA ATG GGA TAG A (TAMRA)-3']. Accelerated kinetics and higher levels of HIV proviral DNA accumulation were observed within a time frame compatible with a single round of HIV replication (12 to 24 h) in vitamin D3-stimulated cells compared to unstimulated cells (Fig. 4B).
In order to demonstrate that HIV-1 infection and spreading in U937 minus clones occurs in a CXCR4-dependent manner (3, 24), U937 minus clones were adsorbed with HIV-1LAI/IIIB (propagated on H9 cells) and then cultured either alone or in the presence of vitamin D3, SDF-1, or both agents. Unlike what was previously shown in a fusogenicity assay (23), SDF-1 strongly inhibited both constitutive and vitamin D3-enhanced HIV replication in U937 minus clones (Fig. 4C).
Vitamin D3 has been previously shown to exert both positive and
negative effects on primary monocytic cells or cell lines, including
U937 cells (7, 14, 21, 25, 30, 32). However, at least in
U937 minus clones, vitamin D3 restored the inefficient HIV replication
without inducing either TNF-
secretion (not shown) or NF-
B
activation.
Thus far, CXCR4 is the only chemokine receptor known to act as a
coreceptor for TCLA HIV-1 (11). Little is known, however, of
the physiologic regulation of CXCR4, although interleukin-4 has been
recently shown to increase its expression (17). In our
study, vitamin D3 selectively enhanced the density of CXCR4 receptors
on the cell surface of minus clones but not plus clones. Consistent
with the lower constitutive levels of CXCR4 expressed by minus clones
compared to plus clones, this effect was responsible, at least in part,
for the potent enhancement of HIV replication induced in U937 minus
clones by vitamin D3 stimulation. These conclusions were supported by
the kinetic quantitative analysis of proviral DNA synthesis. Of
interest, Moriuchi et al. (23) have shown that both SDF-1
and the anti-CXCR4 12G5 monoclonal antibody (MAb) poorly inhibited
HIV-1 Env-mediated fusion in one U937 plus clone, suggesting the
existence of additional, though unidentified, entry cofactors
(23). We have confirmed that SDF-1 minimally induced
Ca2+ fluxes and poorly inhibited HIV replication in plus
clones (2a). However, we here demonstrate that SDF-1
promptly triggered Ca2+ release and strongly inhibited both
constitutive and vitamin D3-induced viral replication in U937 minus
cell clones, emphasizing that functional coreceptor molecules, capable
of acting as HIV coreceptors, are expressed on their cell surface.
Finally, we cannot exclude the possibility that vitamin D3 is able to
change the intracellular environment toward a more permissive state in terms of viral integration and/or spreading in the cell culture, although these effects unlikely encompass NF-
B-dependent viral transcription in U937 minus cells. However, in this regard,
transcriptional control by enhancers outside of the viral promoter
(35) or by Tat-associated kinase activity triggered upon
differentiation of U937 cells (36) may play a role.
In conclusion, our findings provide a model for investigating the usage
and modulation of the CXCR4 HIV coreceptor in differentiating monocytic
cells. In this regard, infection of bone marrow-derived CD34+ cells has been demonstrated in some very advanced
AIDS patients but not in individuals at earlier stages of infection
(33). Because acquisition of CXCR4 coreceptor usage, leading
to a phenotypic switch from macrophage-tropic to T-cell-tropic strains,
occurs during the advanced disease stages (8, 20, 29), it is
conceivable that factors influencing the levels of CXCR4 expression on
HIV target cells
as demonstrated here for vitamin D3
play a role in determining the ability of HIV to expand its cellular tropisms, potentially involving bone marrow-derived progenitor cells.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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We thank I. Clark-Lewis for kindly providing SDF-1, M. Algeri and E. Clementi for help in the Ca2+ flux determinations, and C. Bovolenta for critical reading of the manuscript.
This research was supported entirely by grants from the National AIDS Project of the Instituto Superiore de Sanitá, Rome, Italy. P.B. is a fellow of ANLAIDS, Italy.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: P2-P3 Laboratories, DIBIT, Via Olgettina n. 58, 20132 Milan, Italy. Phone: 39-2-2643-4902. Fax: 39-2-2643-4905. E-mail: biswas.priscilla{at}hsr.it
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