A panel of 20 recombinant Fab fragments reactive with the surface glycoprotein gpl20 of human type 1 immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) were examined for their ability to neutralize MN and hUB strains of the virus. Neutralization was determined as the ability of the Fab fragments to inhibit infection as measured in both a p24 ELISA and a syncytium-formation assay. One group of closely sequencerelated Fab fragments was found to neutralize virus in both assays with a 50% neutralization titer at -1 ,ug/ml. AnotherFab neutralized in the p24 ELISA but not in the syncytium assay. The other Fab fragments showed weak or no neutralizing ability. The results imply that virion aggregation or crosslinking of gp120 molecules on the virion surface is not an absolute requirement for HIV-1 neutralization. Further, all of the Fab fragments were shown to be competitive with soluble CD4 for binding to gpl20 and yet few neutralized the virus effectively, implying that the mechanism of neutralization in this case may not involve receptor blocking. The observation of a preponderance ofhigh-affminty Fab fragments with poor or no neutralizing ability could have implications for vaccine strategies.

Coreceptor usage of primary human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolates varies according to biological phenotype. The chemokine receptors CCR5 and CXCR4 are the major coreceptors that, together with CD4, govern HIV-1 entry into cells. Since CXCR4 usage determines the biological phenotype for HIV-1 isolates and is more frequent in patients with immunodeficiency, it may serve as a marker for viral virulence. This possibility prompted us to study coreceptor usage by HIV-2, known to be less pathogenic than HIV-1. We tested 11 primary HIV-2 isolates for coreceptor usage in human cell lines: U87 glioma cells, stably expressing CD4 and the chemokine receptor CCR1, CCR2b, CCR3, CCR5, or CXCR4, and GHOST(3) osteosarcoma cells, coexpressing CD4 and CCR5, CXCR4, or the orphan receptor Bonzo or BOB. The indicator cells were infected by cocultivation with virus-producing peripheral blood mononuclear cells and by cell-free virus. Our results show that 10 of 11 HIV-2 isolates were able to efficiently use CCR5. In contrast, only two isolates, both from patients with advanced disease, used CXCR4 efficiently. These two isolates also promptly induced syncytia in MT-2 cells, a pattern described for HIV-1 isolates that use CXCR4. Unlike HIV-1, many of the HIV-2 isolates were promiscuous in their coreceptor usage in that they were able to use, apart from CCR5, one or more of the CCR1, CCR2b, CCR3, and BOB coreceptors. Another difference between HIV-1 and HIV-2 was that the ability to replicate in MT-2 cells appeared to be a general property of HIV-2 isolates. Based on BOB mRNA expression in MT-2 cells and the ability of our panel of HIV-2 isolates to use BOB, we suggest that HIV-2 can use BOB when entering MT-2 cells. The results indicate no obvious link between viral virulence and the ability to use a multitude of coreceptors.

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Measles virus (MV) is

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Hantaviruses are rodent-borne agents that cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome or hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in humans. The nucleocapsid protein (N) is relatively conserved among hantaviruses and highly immunogenic in both laboratory animals and humans, and it has been shown to induce efficient protective immunity in animal models. To investigate the ability of recombinant N (rN) from different hantaviruses to elicit cross-protection, we immunized bank voles with rN from Puumala (PUUV), Topografov (TOPV), Andes (ANDV), and Dobrava (DOBV) viruses and subsequently challenged them with PUUV. All animals immunized with PUUV and TOPV rN were completely protected. In the group immunized with DOBV rN, 7 of 10 animals were protected, while only 3 of 8 animals were protected in the group immunized with ANDV rN, which is more closely related to PUUV rN than DOBV rN. Humoral and cellular immune responses after rN immunization were also investigated. The highest cross-reactive humoral responses against PUUV antigen were detected in sera from ANDV rN-immunized animals, followed by those from TOPV rN-immunized animals, and only very low antibody cross-reactivity was observed in sera from DOBV rN-immunized animals. In proliferation assays, T lymphocytes from animals immunized with all heterologous rNs were as efficiently recalled in vitro by PUUV rN as were T lymphocytes from animals immunized with homologous protein. In summary, this study has shown that hantavirus N can elicit cross-protective immune responses against PUUV, and the results suggest a more important role for the cellular arm of the immune response than for the humoral arm in cross-protection elicited by rN.

These experiments show that elevated levels of salivary SLPI can be associated with an increased inhibitory effect of the whole saliva sample, and that this inhibitory effect is decreased with broad coreceptor usage of the virus.

Twenty-five 13-to 35-amino-acid-long peptides representing regions of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2), strain SBL6669, envelope proteins were evaluated for their immunogenic activity in guinea pigs. The peptides were selected to provide homologous representation of sites in the HIV-1 envelope proteins that were previously documented to have a particular immunogenic importance.