We constructed an infectious molecular clone of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-associated retrovirus. Upon transfection, this clone directed the production of infectious virus particles in a wide variety of cells in addition to human T4 cells. The progeny, infectious virions, were synthesized in mouse, mink, monkey, and several human non-T cell lines, indicating the absence of any intracellular obstacle to viral RNA or protein production or assembly. During the course of these studies, a human colon carcinoma cell line, exquisitely sensitive to DNA transfection, was identified. * Corresponding author. MATERIALS AND METHODS Cells. The cell lines used in these studies are listed in Table 10 [ig of uncleaved plasmid DNA in each assay. Virus production was monitored in non-T4 cells by cocultivation with CD4+ A3.01 cells (106 cells of each type) 2 days after transfection. Reverse transcriptase (RT) assays were carried 284

A model system for cytokine-induced up-regulation of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) expression in chronically infected promonocyte clones was established. The parent promonocyte cell line U937 was chronically infected with HIV-1 and from this line a clone, U1, was derived. U1 showed minimal constitutive expression of HIV-1, but virus expression was markedly up-regulated by a phytohemagglutinin-induced supernatant containing multiple cytokines and by recombinant granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor alone. Recombinant interleukin-1 (IL-1), IL-2, interferon-gamma, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha did not up-regulate virus expression. Concomitant with the cytokine-induced up-regulation of HIV-1, expression of membrane-bound IL-1 beta was selectively induced in U1 in the absence of induction of other surface membrane proteins. This cytokine up-regulation of IL-1 beta was not seen in the uninfected parent U937 cell line. These studies have implications for the understanding of the mechanism of progression from a latent or low-level HIV-1 infection to a productive infection with resulting immunosuppression. In addition, this model can be used to delineate the potential mechanisms whereby HIV-1 infection regulates cellular gene expression.

Expression of human immunodeficiency virus type 1

Tumor necrosis factor a (TNF-a), also known as cachectin, was demonstrated to induce the expression of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in a chronically infected T-cell clone (ACH-2). Concentrations of recombinant TNF-a as low as 50 pg/ml induced a signifcant increase over background of HIV expression in the ACH-2 cells as determined by supernatant reverse transcriptase activity. The

The human T-lymphotropic viruses (HTLVs) types 1 and 2 originated independently and are related to distinct lineages of simian T-lymphotropic viruses (STLV-1 and STLV-2, respectively). These facts, along with the finding that HTLV-1 diversity appears to have resulted from multiple cross-species transmissions of STLV-1, suggest that contact between humans and infected nonhuman primates (NHPs) may result in HTLV emergence. We investigated the diversity of HTLV among central Africans reporting contact with NHP blood and body fluids through hunting, butchering, and keeping primate pets. We show that this population is infected with a wide variety of HTLVs, including two previously unknown retroviruses: HTLV-4 is a member of a phylogenetic lineage that is distinct from all known HTLVs and STLVs; HTLV-3 falls within the phylogenetic diversity of STLV-3, a group not previously seen in humans. We also document human infection with multiple STLV-1-like viruses. These results demonstrate greater HTLV diversity than previously recognized and suggest that NHP exposure contributes to HTLV emergence. Our discovery of unique and divergent HTLVs has implications for HTLV diagnosis, blood screening, and potential disease development in infected persons. The findings also indicate that cross-species transmission is not the ratelimiting step in pandemic retrovirus emergence and suggest that it may be possible to predict and prevent disease emergence by surveillance of populations exposed to animal reservoirs and interventions to decrease risk factors, such as primate hunting.retrovirus ͉ zoonosis ͉ simian ͉ exposures ͉ diversity

BackgroundIn the absence of an effective vaccine, HIV continues to spread globally, emphasizing the need for novel strategies to limit its transmission. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with antiretroviral drugs could prove to be an effective intervention strategy if highly efficacious and cost-effective PrEP modalities are identified. We evaluated daily and intermittent PrEP regimens of increasing antiviral activity in a macaque model that closely resembles human transmission.Methods and FindingsWe used a repeat-exposure macaque model with 14 weekly rectal virus challenges. Three drug treatments were given once daily, each to a different group of six rhesus macaques. Group 1 was treated subcutaneously with a human-equivalent dose of emtricitabine (FTC), group 2 received orally the human-equivalent dosing of both FTC and tenofovir-disoproxil fumarate (TDF), and group 3 received subcutaneously a similar dosing of FTC and a higher dose of tenofovir. A fourth group of six rhesus macaques (group 4) received intermittently a PrEP regimen similar to group 3 only 2 h before and 24 h after each weekly virus challenge. Results were compared to 18 control macaques that did not receive any drug treatment. The risk of infection in macaques treated in groups 1 and 2 was 3.8- and 7.8-fold lower than in untreated macaques (p = 0.02 and p = 0.008, respectively). All six macaques in group 3 were protected. Breakthrough infections had blunted acute viremias; drug resistance was seen in two of six animals. All six animals in group 4 that received intermittent PrEP were protected.ConclusionsThis model suggests that single drugs for daily PrEP can be protective but a combination of antiretroviral drugs may be required to increase the level of protection. Short but potent intermittent PrEP can provide protection comparable to that of daily PrEP in this SHIV/macaque model. These findings support PrEP trials for HIV prevention in humans and identify promising PrEP modalities.

The latent period of AIDS is influenced by factors which activate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication in different cell types. Although monocytic cells may provide a reservoir for virus production in vivo, their regulation of HIV transcription has not been defined. We now report that HIV gene expression in the monocyte lineage is regulated by NF-kappa B, the same transcription factor known to stimulate the HIV enhancer in activated T cells; however, control of NF-kappa B and HIV in monocytes differs from that observed in T cells. NF-kappa B-binding activity appears during the transition from promonocyte to monocyte in U937 cells induced to differentiate in vitro and is present constitutively in mature monocytes and macrophages. In a chronically infected promonocytic cell, U1, differentiation is associated with HIV-1 replication as well as NF-kappa B binding activity. These findings suggest that NF-kappa B binding activity is developmentally regulated in the monocyte lineage, and that it provides one signal for HIV activation in these cells.

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