Poeschla E, Looney DJ; Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.

Program Abstr 5th Conf Retrovir Oppor Infect Conf Retrovir Oppor Infect 5th 1998 Chic Ill. 1998 Feb 1-5; 5th: 87 (abstract no. 44).

University of California, San Diego, CA.

A heterologous feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) expression system permitted high-level expression of FIV proteins and efficient production of infectious FIV in human cells, identifying the FIV U3 element as the sole restriction to the productive phase in non-feline cells. In addition, heterologous FIV expression in a variety of human cells resulted in profuse syncytial lysis that was found to be FIV env-specific, CD4-independent, and restricted to cells that express CXCR4, the coreceptor for svncytium-inducing HIV. Stable expression of CXCR4 in CXCR4-negative human and rodent cell lines resulted in extensive FIV env-mediated, CXCR4-dependent cell fusion and infection. In feline cells, stable expression of CXCR4 resulted not only in marked syncytium formation both during FIV replication and after transduction of FIV env, but also increased infectivity of wild-type and FIV-enveloped replication-defective FIV viruses. Infection of human cells by FIV was also found to occur in a CXCR4-dependent manner, but at lower efficiency than in feline cells. Use of CXCR4 is a fundamental feature of lentivirus biology independent of CD4 and a shared cellular link to infection and cytopathicity for distantly related lentiviruses that cause AIDS.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Animals
• Antigens, CD4
• Cats
• Cell Fusion
• Chemokines
• Felidae
• Gene Expression
• Genes, env
• Humans
• Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline
• Receptors, CXCR4
• genetics
• immunology

Other ID:

• 98928972

UI: 102235625

From Meeting Abstracts