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Journal of Virology, July 2003, p. 7669-7672, Vol. 77, No. 13
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.13.7669-7672.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Direct Evidence that C-Peptide Inhibitors of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Entry Bind to the gp41 N-Helical Domain in Receptor-Activated Viral Envelope
Nicole R. Kilgore, Karl Salzwedel, Mary Reddick, Graham P. Allaway, and Carl T. Wild*
Panacos Pharmaceuticals Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland 20877
Received 30 October 2002/
Accepted 28 March 2003

ABSTRACT
While it has been established that peptides modeling the C-helical
region of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp41 are potent
in vivo inhibitors of virus replication, their mechanism of
action has yet to be determined. It has been proposed, but never
directly demonstrated, that these peptides block virus entry
by interacting with gp41 to disrupt the formation or function
of a six-helix bundle structure. Using a six-helix bundle-specific
monoclonal antibody with isolate-restricted Env reactivity,
we provide the first direct evidence that, in receptor-activated
viral Env, C-peptide entry inhibitors bind to the gp41 N-helical
coiled-coil to form a peptide/protein hybrid structure and,
in doing so, disrupt native six-helix bundle formation.

TEXT
The role of the gp41 N- and C-helical domains (amino acid residues
551 to 595 and 633 to 678, respectively, of the human immunodeficiency
virus type 1 LAI [HIV-1
LAI] sequence) (Fig.
1) in virus replication
has been the focus of considerable study. It has been established
that the N helix plays a role in stabilizing the envelope oligomer
(
14,
15), and mutagenesis studies have determined that a coiled-coil
structure formed by the association of the N-helical domains
is required for membrane fusion (
3,
5,
22). Also, it has been
shown that determinants in the N helix form a gp120 contact
site that is believed to play a role in stabilizing surface
and transmembrane (TM) protein interactions (
3,
13). The C-helical
domain of gp41 is also critical to virus replication. Mutations
in this region of the TM protein have a dramatic effect on fusion
phenotype (
17), while the broadly neutralizing human monoclonal
antibody (MAb) 2F5 maps to a linear epitope overlapping this
region of the TM (
11,
12). In addition to these observations,
it has been demonstrated that the N and C helices specifically
interact to form a structure termed a six-helix bundle that
is believed to play a critical role in virus entry (
1,
19,
21).
Many of the studies characterizing the role of HIV envelope
structure in virus entry have employed synthetic peptides. One
example involves the use of peptides modeling the N- and C-helical
domains of the TM protein (N36 and C34) (Fig.
1), which have
been shown to self-assemble to form a six-helix bundle, to characterize
structures found in the fusion-active form of gp41 (
1,
19).
In addition to modeling structural features found in the viral
TM protein, these peptides have been observed to be virus-specific
inhibitors of HIV entry (
10,
20,
22; S. Jiang, K. Lin, N. Strick,
and A. R. Neurath, Letter, Nature
365:113, 1993). In particular,
peptides modeling the C helix (DP-178 and C34) are exceedingly
potent inhibitors, with in vitro 90% inhibitory concentrations
in the low nanomolar range. One of these C-peptides, DP-178
(Fig.
1), has recently completed phase III clinical trials under
the trade name T20.
Several theories have been put forward to account for the antiviral activity of these C-peptide inhibitors. It has been proposed that they block virus entry by interacting with gp41 fusion intermediates, disrupting the formation and/or function of the fusion pore (9, 16). Alternatively, it has been suggested that these peptides bind to the N-terminal gp41 fusion domain and interfere with its ability to insert itself into the target cell membrane (8). A third theory, perhaps the most popular, holds that C-peptide inhibitors competitively disrupt the formation and/or function of the gp41 six-helix bundle structure (2, 18). According to this hypothesis, formation of the native six-helix bundle is critical to virus entry and C-peptides disrupt this process through a dominant-negative interaction with the N-helical region of the TM protein. Consistent with this proposal, it has been previously demonstrated that a C-peptide (DP-178) binds to a receptor-activated form of gp41 (7).
The goal of the present study was to extend earlier work by defining the specific molecular target for these antiviral peptides. To accomplish this, we carried out experiments to determine the effect of C-peptides on native six-helix bundle formation. Using a six-helix bundle-specific MAb with restricted envelope reactivity, we were able to demonstrate that C-peptide entry inhibitors bind to the N-helical coiled-coil in receptor-activated gp41 to form a peptide/protein hybrid structure and, in doing so, disrupt native six-helix bundle formation. Preparation and characterization of polyclonal sera specific for the gp41 six-helix bundle (R30) have been previously described (4). A previously reported gp41-specific murine MAb (T26, generously provided by Patricia Earl, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) (6) was further characterized for six-helix bundle reactivity. Binding specificities of the antibody to gp41 from different HIV-1 isolates were established by using immunoprecipitation assays. Cell lysate was prepared by treating HIV-infected cells with a buffer consisting of 1% Igepal CA-630 (Sigma) in 50 mM NaCl-50 mM Tris (pH 8.0). Approximately 106 HIV-infected cells (either U87 CD4 CXCR4 or CCR5 cells at 3 days postinfection or chronically infected H9 cells) were used to generate the volume of lysate required for each sample. Lysate was clarified by centrifugation and stored at -20°C until use. In these experiments, 20 µl of envelope lysate was diluted into 180 µl of lysis buffer, followed by the addition of 3 µl of concentrated hybridoma supernatant or immune serum. The mixture was allowed to incubate overnight at 4°C, followed by the addition of 100 µl of protein A/G beads (Invitrogen) and a second incubation for 1 h at 4°C. At the end of this time, the samples were centrifuged at 13,000 rpm in a Heraeus Biofuge, the supernatant was removed, and the protein A/G pellets were washed twice with lysis buffer. Samples were stored at 4°C until they were analyzed by Western blotting as described previously (4). In these experiments, the restricted reactivity of T26 was established. Notably, this MAb exhibited binding only to gp41 from the LAI isolate (Fig. 2A). This behavior contrasts with that of the rabbit polyclonal sera (R30) generated against a mixture of peptides modeling the N- and C-helical domains (N36 and C34), which exhibited high levels of binding to gp41 from all isolates tested (Fig. 2B). Sequence analysis indicates that the limited envelope reactivity of T26 is most likely due to amino acid residues located in the N-terminal half of the C helix of the LAI envelope (Fig. 3). The observation that the conservative D-to-E change and the nonconservative N-to-D or -E and H-to-Y changes at positions corresponding to LAI residues 637, 641, and 648, respectively, occur in each of the three nonreactive isolates suggests that amino acid residues at one or more of these positions serve as determinants of antibody specificity.
In order to establish that T26 was specifically targeting the
gp41 six-helix bundle, we carried out peptide adsorption studies.
These experiments consisted of immunoprecipitation assays modified
to include pretreatment of the antibody samples (1/2 h at room
temperature) with N36, C34, or a mixture of N36 and C34 peptides
(N36-C34) modeled after the LAI envelope sequence at a total
concentration of 10 µg/ml. Peptides were prepared by using
9-fluorenylmethoxy carbonyl (FMOC) chemistry and purified by
reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. N36 is
94.3% pure, and C34 is >85% pure. Mass spectrometry results
were consistent with the molecular weights of the peptides.
Pretreatment of T26 with either the N- or C-peptide alone resulted
in no detectable loss of binding; however, pretreatment of this
same antibody sample with a 1:1 mixture of the N- and C-peptides,
which self-assemble to form a six-helix bundle, resulted in
a complete loss of gp41-binding activity (Fig.
4). Complex formation
between the N36 and C34 peptides used in this study to form
a six-helix bundle was confirmed by circular dichroism experiments
(data not shown). This result indicated that the MAb was specifically
targeting a conformational epitope within this higher-order
protein structure.
Having established the specificity of T26 for the six-helix
bundle found in the HIV-1
LAI envelope, we carried out a series
of cell-surface immunoprecipitation experiments that utilized
this restricted binding behavior to characterize the effect
of C-peptide entry inhibitors on formation of the native six-helix
bundle. We reasoned that if the C-peptide inhibitors did in
fact bind to the gp41 N-helical domain to form a hybrid six-helix
bundle structure, this binding could be established by using
the appropriate combination of C-peptide, viral envelope, and
T26. Specifically, we believed that we should be able to rescue
T26 binding to gp41 in a nonreactive virus isolate by using
peptide modeled after the C-helical domain of a reactive isolate.
In the first set of experiments, chronically infected cells
(7.5
x 10
5 cells in a volume of 500 µl of tissue culture
media) expressing the HIV-1 RF envelope (T26 nonreactive) were
incubated with a C-peptide inhibitor (C34; 5 µg/ml for
30 min at 37°C) modeled after the HIV-1
LAI sequence (T26
reactive). This incubation (5 µg/ml for 30 min at 37°C)
was followed by the addition of soluble CD4 (sCD4) at 1 µg/ml,
which has been previously demonstrated to trigger six-helix
bundle formation in surface-expressed viral envelope (
4). Following
incubation with sCD4 for 1 h at 37°C, samples were washed
to remove free peptide, cells were lysed, and envelope was immunoprecipitated
with the isolate-restricted T26 MAb as described earlier. As
shown in Fig.
5A, triggering in the presence of the LAI-derived
C-peptide allows a significant amount of gp41 from the MAb-nonreactive
RF isolate to be immunoprecipitated by our LAI-specific MAb
(lane 1). In contrast, T26 was unable to precipitate gp41 from
RF envelope-expressing cells triggered in the absence of C-peptide
(lane 2). From these results, we conclude that the LAI-based
C-peptide inhibitor was binding to the N-helical coiled-coil
in receptor-activated gp41 of the RF envelope to generate a
hybrid peptide or protein six-helix bundle structure recognized
by the LAI envelope-specific MAb.
To extend this result, a second assay was carried out using
a modified form of this surface immunoprecipitation assay employing
cell-surface-expressed receptors rather than sCD4 for triggering.
In these experiments, the LAI-based C34 peptide was added to
RF envelope-expressing cells in the presence of uninfected receptor-expressing
MT2 target cells (7.5
x 10
5 cells). The mixture of cells was
cocultivated for 6 h at 37°C. At the end of that time, the
mixture was washed, cells were lysed, and envelope was immunoprecipitated
with T26 as described earlier. The results from this experiment
were identical to those observed in the assays employing sCD4
(Fig.
5B). Our LAI-specific MAb precipitated RF envelope from
chronically infected cells incubated with the LAI-derived C-peptide
in the presence of receptor-expressing cells (Fig.
5B, lane
1), while envelope triggered in the absence of peptide was not
precipitated (Fig.
5B, lane 2).
The present study extends previous work characterizing the mechanism of action of C-peptide entry inhibitors (7). In a prior report, coimmunoprecipitation experiments were used to show that C-peptide inhibitors interact with the HIV-1 TM protein following receptor activation. However, that approach did not allow for the identification of the specific binding site within gp41. In the present work, we utilize an envelope-specific six-helix bundle-binding antibody to provide what we believe is the first direct evidence for C-peptide binding to the N-helical domain of HIV-1 gp41. Specifically, we show that the interaction of a C-peptide modeled after the envelope of an antibody-reactive viral isolate can rescue binding to the TM protein of a nonreactive viral envelope. Due to the conformational specificity of the six-helix bundle-binding MAb, this process could occur only through the interaction of the C-peptide with the N-helical region of gp41 from the nonreactive envelope to form a peptide/protein hybrid six-helix bundle. Although the specific interaction of C-peptide inhibitors with the N-helical domain of gp41 has been one of several mechanisms proposed to account for the antiviral activity of C-peptides, this report provides the first direct proof that this specific binding actually occurs.
The results from this study are important for several reasons. By establishing the molecular target for this potent class of HIV therapeutics, we have validated the gp41 N-helical domain as a viable target in HIV drug development. This information should expedite the discovery of new families of entry inhibitors and aid in the development of new members of the current classes with improved development characteristics. Additionally, knowledge of the specific molecular target will add to our understanding of the determinants associated with the development of resistance to the current generation of peptide-based inhibitors and could aid in our attempts to identify compounds that overcome this resistance. Finally, these results provide new information regarding the role of HIV-1 envelope proteins in viral entry and extend our understanding of this fundamental process.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Panacos Pharmaceuticals, 209 Perry Parkway, Gaithersburg, MD 20877. Phone: (240) 631-1395. Fax: (301) 208-8755. E-mail:
cwild{at}panacos.com.


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Journal of Virology, July 2003, p. 7669-7672, Vol. 77, No. 13
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.13.7669-7672.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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