AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, August 18, 2003
Staff Medical Writers

"All primate lentiviruses (HIV-1, HIV-2, SIV) encode Nef proteins, which are important for viral replication and pathogenicity in vivo," but "it is not known how Nef regulates these processes," scientists in the United States explained. "It has been suggested that Nef protects infected cells from apoptosis and recognition by cytotoxic T lymphocytes," although "other studies suggest that Nef influences the activation state of the infected cell, thereby enhancing the ability of that cell to support viral replication."

In their study, S. Swingler and coauthors at the University of Massachusetts found that "macrophages that express Nef or are stimulated through the CD40 receptor release a paracrine factor that renders T lymphocytes permissive to HIV-1 infection."

"This activity requires the upregulation of B-cell receptors involved in the alternative pathway of T-lymphocyte stimulation," according to the report. "T lymphocytes stimulated through this pathway become susceptible to viral infection without progressing through the cell cycle."

Experimental results revealed "two proteins, soluble CD23 and soluble ICAM, that are induced from macrophages by Nef and CD40L, and which mediate their effects on lymphocyte permissivity."

These findings identify "a mechanism by which Nef expands the cellular reservoir of HIV-1 by permitting the infection of resting T lymphocytes," the researchers concluded.

Swingler and colleagues published their study in Nature (HIV-1 Nef intersects the macrophage CD40L signalling pathway to promote resting-cell infection. Nature. 2003 Jul 10;424(6945):213-9.

Additional information can be obtained by contacting M. Stevenson, University of Massachusetts, School of Medicine, Molecular Medicine Program, 373 Plantat St., Worcester, MA 01605, USA.

The publisher of the journal Nature can be contacted at: Nature Publishing Group, Macmillan Building, 4 Crinan St., London N1 9XW, UK.

The information in this article comes under the major subject areas of AIDS and HIV, Cell Biology, Immunology and Proteomics.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Swingler S, Brichacek B, Jacque JM, et al., "HIV-1 Nef intersects the macrophage CD40L signalling pathway to promote resting-cell infection", Nature. 2003 Jul 10;424(6945):213-9.

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