Prevention of HIV-1 glycoprotein transport by soluble CD4 retained in the endoplasmic reticulum
Article Abstract:
Part of the difficulty in developing a drug or treatment that is effective against a viral infection is that viruses use the infected cell's biochemical machinery to reproduce. The work of the virus is so intertwined with the work of the cell that it may be impossible to interfere with one without harming the other. The key often lies in identifying characteristics that are unique to the virus, and targeting these virus-specific processes for drug therapy. In the case of the AIDS virus, the virus-specific enzyme reverse transcriptase has been focused upon, but the drug zidovudine, formerly called AZT, is not very effective and has many adverse effects. In an attempt to identify other ways of inhibiting the AIDS virus, many researchers are looking at the assembly of new viruses by the infected cells. After new viral proteins are manufactured, they must be transported to the cell surface in preparation for their integration into a new virus. Researchers now have shown that the transport of HIV-1 glycoproteins to the cell surface can be prevented. The method makes use of the fact that some of the viral proteins bind to CD4, which is also the initial site of cell infection. The investigators isolated mutant CD4, which is not transported to the cell's surface. The gene for this mutant CD4 is inserted into cultured cells, and the cells make new CD4. When these cells are infected with HIV-1, the viral proteins bind to the mutant CD4 just as to the normal molecule, but remain inside and are not transported. The investigators suggest that this may be a sort of 'intracellular immunization' that may prevent infected cells from producing the AIDS virus. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1990
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Where has HIV been hiding?
Article Abstract:
Two recent findings have demonstrated conclusively that the human immunodeficency virus (HIV) in HIV-infected individuals can be localized mostly in the lymph nodes rather than in the blood. In addition, of the virus-infected cells, most tend not to produce viral RNA. These findings suggest that an effective AIDS vaccineshould be able to block the establishment of HIV in the lymphoid organs. Also, such a vaccine will be difficult to develop, since latent viruses are resistantto drug or immunological treatment.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1993
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: No evidence for expression of the insulin-regulatable glucose transporter in endothelial cells. Dialogue between muscle and fat
- Abstracts: A neuronal representation of the location of nearby sounds. Spatial awareness is a function of the temporal not the posterior parietal lobe
- Abstracts: Vegetation and soil feedbacks on the response of the African monsoon to orbital forcing in the early to middle Holocene
- Abstracts: Deficiency of a glycoprotein component of the dystrophin complex in dystrophic muscle. Association of dystrophin-related protein with dystrophin-associated proteins in mdx mouse muscle
- Abstracts: Probing the calcium-induce conformational transition of troponin C with site-directed mutants. The genome sequence of the plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa