A peptide antagonist disrupts NK cell inhibitory synapse formation.

Productive engagement of MHC class I by inhibitory NK cell receptors depends on the peptide bound by the MHC class I molecule. Peptide:MHC complexes that bind weakly to killer cell Ig-like receptors (KIRs) can antagonize the inhibition mediated by high-affinity peptide:MHC complexes and cause NK cell activation. We show that low-affinity peptide:MHC complexes stall inhibitory signaling at the step of Src homology protein tyrosine phosphatase 1 recruitment and do not go on to form the KIR microclusters induced by high-affinity peptide:MHC, which are associated with Vav dephosphorylation and downstream signaling. Furthermore, the low-affinity peptide:MHC complexes prevented the formation of KIR microclusters by high-affinity peptide:MHC. Thus, peptide antagonism of NK cells is an active phenomenon of inhibitory synapse disruption.

Suppression of HIV-1 infection by a small molecule inhibitor of the ATM kinase.

Chemotherapy that is used to treat human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) infection focuses primarily on targeting virally encoded proteins. However, the combination of a short retroviral life cycle and high mutation rate leads to the selection of drug-resistant HIV-1 variants. One way to address this problem is to inhibit non-essential host cell proteins that are required for viral replication. Here we show that the activity of HIV-1 integrase stimulates an ataxia-telangiectasia-mutated (ATM)-dependent DNA damage response, and that a deficiency of this ATM kinase sensitizes cells to retrovirus-induced cell death. Consistent with these observations, we demonstrate that a novel and specific small molecule inhibitor of ATM kinase activity, KU-55933, is capable of suppressing the replication of both wild-type and drug-resistant HIV-1.