The rhesus macaque CCR3 chemokine receptor is a cell entry cofactor for HIV-2, but not for HIV-1.

The eotaxin receptor (CCR3) is a CD4-associated coreceptor for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and type 2 (HIV-2). By comparison with other chemokine receptors, such as CCR5 and CXCR4, the primary sequences of human CCR3 and its rhesus macaque homolog were markedly different in their extracellular domains. Human CD4+ cells expressing CCR3 from either human or macaque origin could be infected by HIV-2, with apparently similar efficiency, but only cells expressing human CCR3 could be infected by HIV-1. It suggests that HIV-1 and HIV-2 envelope proteins interact differently with the CCR3 coreceptor HIV-1 could infect cells expressing chimeric human/macaque CCR3 bearing either the first and second, or the third and fourth extracellular domains of human CCR3. As previously observed for CCR5, there seems to be a certain functional redundancy between domains supporting the coreceptor activity of CCR3. In spite of their close genetic relationship to HIV-2, two macaque simian immunodeficiency virus strains were apparently unable to use the CCR3 coreceptor from either human or simian origin.

Interaction between the cytoplasmic domains of HIV-1 Vpu and CD4: role of Vpu residues involved in CD4 interaction and in vitro CD4 degradation.

The Vpu and CD4 cytoplasmic domains were found, by using a two-hybrid assay in yeast, to interact in the absence of their membrane anchor domains. Studies on several deletion and point mutants revealed that the overall structure of the Vpu cytoplasmic domain is required for this interaction. The Vpu amino acid residues involved in the interaction with CD4 were identified. Deletion of the C-terminal residues of Vpu, required for CD4 degradation, as well as the double mutation on the casein kinase II phosphorylation sites S52N-S56N, also involved in CD4 degradation, resulted in the loss of interaction with CD4 and in the inability to induce CD4 degradation. These results suggest that the ability of Vpu to mediate the degradation of CD4 is linked to its capacity to physically interact with CD4. However, additional mutagenesis on the S52 site revealed that the interaction between the cytoplasmic domains of Vpu and CD4 is not sufficient for in vitro Vpu-mediated CD4 degradation.

Variability of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 group O strains isolated from Cameroonian patients living in France.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) nucleotide sequences encoding p24Gag and the Env C2V3 region were obtained from seven patients who were selected on the basis of having paradoxical seronegativity on a subset of HIV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay detection kits and having atypical Western blot (immunoblot) reactivity. Sequence analyses showed that all of these strains were more closely related to the recently described Cameroonian HIV isolates of group O (HIV-1 outlier) than to group M (HIV-1 major). All seven patients had Cameroonian origins but were living in France at the time the blood samples were taken. Characterization of a large number of group M strains has to date revealed eight distinct genetic subtypes (A to H). Genetic distances between sequences from available group O isolates were generally comparable to those observed in M intersubtype sequence comparisons, showing that the group O viruses are genetically very diverse. Analysis of sequences from these seven new viral strains, combined with the three previously characterized group O strains, revealed few discernable phylogenetic clustering patterns among the 10 patients' viral sequences. The level of diversity among group O sequences suggests that they may have a comparable (or greater) age than the M group sequences, although for unknown reasons, the latter group dispersed first and is the dominant lineage in the pandemic.

Evidence for differences in the binding of drugs to the two main genetic variants of human alpha 1-acid glycoprotein.

1. Human alpha 1-acid glycoprotein (AAG), a plasma transport protein, has three main genetic variants. F1. S and A. Native commercial AAG (a mixture of almost equal proportions of these three variants) has been separated by chromatography into variants which correspond to the proteins of the two genes which code for AAG in humans: the A variant and a mixture of the F1 and S variants (60% F1 and 40% S). Their binding properties towards imipramine, warfarin and mifepristone were studied by equilibrium dialysis. 2. The F1S variant mixture strongly bound warfarin and mifepristone with an affinity of 1.89 and 2.06 x 10(6) l mol-1, respectively, but had a low affinity for imipramine. Conversely, the A variant strongly bound imipramine with an affinity of 0.98 x 10(6) l mol-1. The low degree of binding of warfarin and mifepristone to the A variant sample was explained by the presence of protein contaminants in this sample. These results indicate specific drug transport roles for each variant, with respect to its separate genetic origin. 3. Control binding experiments performed with (unfractionated) commercial AAG and with AAG isolated from individuals with either the F1/A or S/A phenotypes, agreed with these findings. The results for the binding of warfarin and mifepristone by the AAG samples were similar to those obtained with the F1S mixture: the mean high-affinity association constant of the AAG samples for each drug was of the same order as that of the F1S mixture: the decrease in the number of binding sites of the AAG samples, as compared with the F1S mixture, was explained by the smaller proportion of variants F1 and/or S in these samples. Conversely, results of the imipramine binding study with the AAG samples concurred with those for the binding of this basic drug by the A variant, with respect to the proportion of the A variant in these samples.

Fractionation of the genetic variants of human alpha 1-acid glycoprotein in the native form by chromatography on an immobilized copper(II) affinity adsorbent. Heterogeneity of the separate variants by isoelectrofocusing and by concanavalin A affinity chromatography.

Fractionation of the three main genetic variants (F1, S and A) of human alpha 1-acid glycoprotein (AAG), in their native (sialylated) form, by chromatography on immobilized copper(II) affinity adsorbent was investigated. This chromatographic method had been previously developed to fractionate the desialylated protein variants. For that purpose, the three main AAG phenotypes samples (F1S/A, F1/A and S/A), which had been previously isolated from individual human plasma samples, and an AAG sample from commercial source (a mixture of the phenotypes) were used in the native form. Affinity chromatography of these different samples on an iminodiacetate Sepharose-copper(II) gel at pH 7 resolved two protein peaks, irrespective of the origin of the native AAG sample used. The unbound peak 1 was found to consist of the F1, the S or both variants, depending on the phenotype of the AAG sample used in the chromatography. The bound peak 2 was found to consist of the A variant in a pure form. The fractionation results obtained with native AAG were found to be the same as those originally yielded by the desialylated protein. However, comparison of the interactions of native and desialylated AAG with immobilized copper(II) ions, using an affinity chromatographic method and a non-chromatographic equilibrium binding technique, respectively, showed that desialylation increased the non-specific interactions of the protein with immobilized copper(II) ions. The AAG variants were not fractionated when affinity chromatography was performed using immobilized zinc, nickel or cobalt(II) ions, instead of copper. After purification of each variant in the sialylated form (F1, S and A), their respective heterogeneity was studied by analytical isoelectrofocusing with carrier ampholytes in the pH range 2.5-4.5. In addition, the lectin-binding behaviour of the separate sialylated AAG variants was investigated by affinity chromatography on immobilized concanavalin A.