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Journal of Virology, May 2002, p. 4671-4677, Vol. 76, No. 9
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.9.4671-4677.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037
Received 29 October 2001/ Accepted 17 January 2002
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Several functions in the HIV-1 life cycle have been attributed to CypA. Initially, CypA was proposed to act as an uncoating factor (15). This notion arose from the observation that CypA is a cis-trans isomerase (11, 12) and that CypA binds CA (1, 10), the main component of the shell that surrounds the viral genome. In this model, the enzymatic activity of CypA induces subtle changes in CA-CA interactions that trigger the disassembly of the HIV-1 core, allowing the delivery of the viral genome into the host cytosol. More recently, we and others presented evidence that suggests that CypA participates in the initial uptake of HIV-1 by target cells (21, 24). Specifically, we showed that CypA-deficient viruses attach to target cells less efficiently than wild-type viruses (21). Most recently, it has been shown that HIV-1 entry depends on interactions between virus-associated CypA and cell surface CD147 (20). Indeed, antibodies directed against CD147 inhibit the entry of HIV-1 into target cells, but not that of viruses that do not require CypA for replication, such as simian immunodeficiency virus (20).
The two latter observations imply that CypA participates in HIV-1 entry, whereas the original function attributed to CypA, as an uncoating factor, suggests that CypA participates in postentry events. We recently obtained evidence that seems to argue against the possibility that CypA acts as an uncoating factor. Specifically, we demonstrated that the isomerase activity of CypA is not required for HIV-1 infection. By using an in trans incorporation system (28), we found that a Vpr-CypA chimera rescues the infectivity of viruses lacking CypA. Furthermore, we observed that a Vpr-CypA mutant that has no isomerase activity and no capacity to bind to CA also rescues HIV-1 infectivity (23). Thus, these data argue against the participation of the isomerase activity of CypA in HIV-1 replication and thus seem to plead against the possibility that CypA acts as an uncoating factor. However, this does not rule out the possibility that CypA plays a postentry role in HIV-1 infection. In the present study, we specifically asked whether CypA is only required for an efficient HIV-1 entry or is also necessary for subsequent postentry events.
In order to examine postentry events exclusively, we took advantage of the recent work of Malim and colleagues demonstrating that spinoculation forces the deposition of viruses onto the surface of target cells (19). Importantly, this technique, by bypassing attachment requirements, allows the examination of postattachment steps of HIV-1 infection alone. First, we verified that this technique can substitute for HIV-1 attachment preconditions. We and others showed that cell surface heparan sulfates mediate HIV-1 attachment to adherent cells that express low CD4 levels, such as CD4+ HeLa cells or macrophages (18, 21, 22). Specifically, the removal of cell surface heparan sulfate by heparitinase diminishes both HIV-1 attachment and infectivity (18, 21, 22). We speculated that spinoculation would rescue the attachment of HIV-1 to cells devoid of cell surface heparan sulfate after heparitinase treatment. To test this hypothesis, wild-type R9 (NL4.3 derivative) (X4 virus) (9), R9 BaL (R5 virus) (27), or gp120-deleted (R9
gp160) (21) viruses were produced from 293T cells as described previously (21). Twenty-four hours preinfection, CD4+ CXCR4+ CCR5+ HeLa cells were plated at 80,000 cells/well/ml in a 24-well plate. Adherent cells were pretreated or not with heparitinase for 6 h as described previously (22). Cells were then washed twice, and viruses were added in a final volume of 1 ml of complete Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium. Plates were centrifuged at 2,000 x g (spinoculation) or not (sedimentation) for 3 h at room temperature. Cells were washed twice to remove unbound virus, and amounts of attached virus were quantified by p24 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as described previously (21). Without centrifugation, removal of heparan sulfate by heparitinase decreases the attachment of R9, R9 BaL, and R9
gp120 viruses (fivefold) (Fig. 1A), further confirming that heparan sulfates promote HIV-1 adsorption to adherent cells (18, 21, 22). As expected, spinoculation increased the levels of attachment of R9, R9 BaL, and R9
gp160 viruses (ninefold). Importantly, the amounts of viruses attached to the surface of untreated or heparitinase-treated cells were similar. Note that we obtained comparable results with CD4- HeLa cells (data not shown). This further suggests that HIV-1 attaches to adherent cells (HeLa or macrophages) in a gp120- and CD4-independent manner (21, 22). The infectivity of these attached viruses was then examined. Specifically, target cells were washed twice after spinoculation or sedimentation to remove unattached virus and carefully transferred to 37°C for 48 h. Infectivity was scored by X-Gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-ß-D-galactopyranoside) staining as described previously (26). Without centrifugation, we observed that the removal of cell surface heparan sulfate by heparitinase reduced the levels of infectivity of both R9 and R9 BaL (8- and 12-fold, respectively) (Fig. 1B). This confirms previous observations that cell surface heparan sulfates, by facilitating HIV-1 attachment to target cells, promote HIV-1 infectivity (18, 21, 22). Correlating our attachment data (Fig. 1A), spinoculation increases the levels of infectivity of both R9 and R9 BaL (eight- and sevenfold, respectively). Most importantly, the levels of infectivity of R9 and R9 BaL of untreated and heparitinase-treated target cells were similar. As expected, gp120-deleted viruses (spinoculated or not) failed to infect CD4+ HeLa cells, further confirming the notion that gp120 is absolutely necessary for fusion. Together these results suggest that spinoculation, by forcing HIV-1 attachment, rescues HIV-1 infectivity in cells devoid of cell surface heparan sulfates. This also suggests that heparan sulfates do not play a major role in HIV-1 infection, beyond facilitating HIV-1 attachment to target cells. Altogether, these results demonstrate that spinoculation obviates the need for attachment factors, such as heparan sulfates.
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FIG. 1. Spinoculation bypasses the need for heparan sulfates in HIV-1 attachment and infectivity. (A) Effect of spinoculation on HIV-1 attachment to target cells devoid of heparan sulfates. CD4+ CXCR4+ CCR5+ HeLa cells were ( ) or were not ( ) pretreated with heparitinase for 6 h and exposed to R9 (X4 virus), R9 BaL (R5 virus), and R9 gp160 viruses (3 ng of p24). Plates containing adherent target cells were centrifuged (spinoculation) (bottom panel) or not (sedimentation) (top panel) for 3 h at room temperature. Cells were washed twice to remove unbound virus, and the amounts of attached virus were quantified by p24 ELISA. Results are expressed in picograms of p24 (total amount attached) and represent the average of four independent experiments. (B) Effect of spinoculation on HIV-1 infectivity in target cells devoid of heparan sulfates. As above, target cells were ( ) or were not ( ) pretreated with heparitinase and exposed to R9, R9 BaL, or R9 gp160 viruses (3 ng of p24). Cells were centrifuged (bottom panel) or not (top panel), washed twice, and carefully transferred to 37°C for 48 h. Infectivity was scored by X-Gal staining. Results are expressed in number of blue cells (total number of infected cells) and represent the average of four independent experiments.
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FIG. 2. Spinoculation by bypassing attachment preconditions reveals a postattachment role for CypA in HIV-1 infection. (A) Spinoculation rescues the attachment of CypA-deficient viruses. CD4+ CXCR4+ CCR5+ HeLa cells were exposed to wild-type (R9) or CypA-deficient (CsA-grown R9, R9 G89V, or R9 G89A) viruses (3 ng of p24). CsA was used at a concentration of 10 µM. Adherent cells and viruses were centrifuged (spinoculation) (bottom panel) or not (sedimentation) (top panel) for 3 h at room temperature. Cells were washed twice to remove unbound virus, and amounts of attached virus were quantified by p24 ELISA. Results are expressed in picograms of p24 and represent the average of two independent experiments. , no treatment; , heparitinase treatment. (B) Spinoculation only partially rescues the infectivity of CypA-deficient viruses. As above, target cells were exposed to wild-type (R9) or CypA-deficient (CsA-grown R9, R9 G89V, or R9 G89A) viruses (3 ng of p24). Cells were (bottom panel) or were not (top panel) centrifuged, washed twice, and carefully transferred to 37°C for 48 h. Infectivity was scored by X-Gal staining. Results are expressed in number of blue cells and represent the average of three independent experiments. , no treatment; , heparitinase treatment. (C) Disproportionate increase of infectivity between wild-type and CypA-deficient viruses by spinoculation. The number of infected cells with sedimentated or spinoculated viruses (as above) was compared in four independent experiments. Results are expressed as a ratio of the number of infected cells by spinoculation divided by the number of infected cells by sedimentation. , R9; , R9G89V.
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Most importantly, although spinoculation greatly rescues the infectivity of CypA-deficient viruses, the absolute levels of infectivity of these viruses were still decreased compared to those of wild-type viruses (2.5-fold) (Fig. 2B). Given that identical amounts of centrifuged CypA-deficient and wild-type viruses were deposited onto the surface of target cells (Fig. 2B), this suggests that CypA not only participates in HIV-1 attachment, but also participates in postattachment events. Note that this defect in infectivity is observed in a single round of infection and would be amplified in multiple rounds of infection. Thus, we expect that the observed postattachment defect of CypA-deficient viruses (2.5-fold defect) will result in a profound diminishment of virus propagation. Supporting this hypothesis, several studies showed that replication of CypA-deficient viruses is severely attenuated in human T-cell lines (1, 2,7, 8,17, 25).
To distinguish between a postattachment and postentry role for CypA, we performed similar experiments with viruses pseudotyped with the vesicular stomatitis virus G envelope (VSVG), which bypasses the need for CD4 and chemokine receptors for fusion. Specifically, wild-type (R9
gp160) and CypA-deficient (R9 G89V
gp160, R9 G89A
gp160, and CsA-grown R9
gp160) viruses were pseudotyped with VSVG as described previously (21) and tested for infectivity after spinoculation. Like nonpseudotyped CypA-deficient viruses (Fig. 2B), we found that the absolute levels of infectivity of VSVG-pseudotyped CypA-deficient viruses were still decreased compared to pseudotyped wild-type viruses (2.5-fold) (Fig. 3A). That the use of the VSVG envelope bypasses the conventional CD4/CXCR4/CCR5 entry pathway suggests that CypA participates in postentry events. To further demonstrate that spinoculated CypA-deficient viruses enter efficiently into target cells, we measured the amount of virus internalized into the cytosol of target cells after spinoculation as described previously (16). Importantly, we found that the cytosolic amounts of CypA-deficient (CsA-grown R9, R9 G89V, and R9 G89A) and wild-type (R9) viruses were similar (Fig. 3B). The residual cytosolic amounts of R9
gp160 likely correspond to background contamination, as reported previously (16). Thus, if spinoculated CypA-deficient viruses enter target cells efficiently, but fail to infect these cells, this further suggests that CypA is required for a postentry event in HIV-1 infection.
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FIG. 3. Spinoculation by bypassing attachment preconditions reveals a postentry role for CypA in HIV-1 infection. (A) VSVG pseudotyping does not rescue the infectivity of spinoculated CypA-deficient viruses. CD4+ CXCR4+ CCR5+ HeLa cells were exposed to VSVG-pseudotyped wild-type (R9 gp160) or CypA-deficient (CsA-grown R9 gp160, R9 G89A gp160, or R9 G89V gp160) viruses (3 ng of p24). Adherent cells and viruses were centrifuged (spinoculation) for 3 h at room temperature. Cells were washed twice to remove unbound virus and carefully transferred to 37°C for 48 h. Infectivity was scored by X-Gal staining. Results are expressed in number of blue cells and represent the average of two independent experiments. (B) Spinoculated CypA-deficient viruses efficiently enter target cells. CD4+ CXCR4+ CCR5+ HeLa cells were exposed to wild-type (R9), CypA-deficient (CsA-grown R9, R9 G89A, or R9 G89V) or gp120-deleted (R9 gp160) viruses (30 ng of p24). Adherent cells and viruses were centrifuged (spinoculation) for 3 h at room temperature. Cells were washed twice to remove unbound virus, carefully transferred to 37°C for 2 h for internalization, and treated with pronase to remove uninternalized virus. Entry levels were quantified by the measure of p24 in the cytosolic fraction of target cells by p24 ELISA as described previously (16). , no treatment; , heparitinase treatment.
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FIG. 4. CypA-deficient viruses produced from either 293T cells or CypA-null cells exhibit a postentry defect in CD4+ HeLa cells. (A) Production of CypA-deficient viruses from CypA-null Jurkat cells. Wild-type or CypA-null Jurkat cells (3 million cells/5 ml of complete RPMI medium) were electroporated with wild-type R9 or capsid mutant R9 G89V plasmids (20 µg). Replication was monitored by measuring the amount of capsid released in the medium by p24 ELISA. (B) CypA-deficient viruses produced from CypA-null cells fail to infect CD4+ HeLa cells due to a postentry defect. CD4+ CXCR4+ CCR5+ HeLa cells were exposed to R9 or R9 G89V viruses produced from either wild-type or CypA-null Jurkat cells or 293T cells (3 ng of p24). Adherent cells and viruses were centrifuged (spinoculation) (bottom panel) or not (sedimentation) (top panel) for 3 h at room temperature. Cells were washed twice to remove unbound virus and carefully transferred to 37°C for 48 h. Infectivity was scored by X-Gal staining. Results are expressed as the number of blue cells and represent the average of two independent experiments.
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gp160 plasmid clone and J. Luban for wild-type and CypA-null Jurkat cells. P4 CCR5 cells were obtained through the AIDS Research and Reference Reagent Program. This work was supported by U.S. Public Health Service grant no. AI46958 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to P.A.G. A.C.S.S. was supported by a Scholar Award from the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).
This is publication no. 14317-IMM from the Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif. ![]()
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