Inhibition of HIV-1 replication by P-TEFb inhibitors DRB, seliciclib and flavopiridol correlates with release of free P-TEFb from the large, inactive form of the complex

• Published in: Retrovirology 2007-07, Vol.4 (1), p.47-47, Article 47
• Main Authors: Biglione, Sebastian, Byers, Sarah A, Price, Jason P, Nguyen, Van Trung, Bensaude, Olivier, Price, David H, Maury, Wendy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biochemistry, Molecular Biology; Control; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 9 - antagonists & inhibitors; Dichlororibofuranosylbenzimidazole - pharmacology; Enzyme Inhibitors - pharmacology; Flavonoids - pharmacology; Health aspects; HIV infection; HIV-1 - drug effects; HIV-1 - physiology; Kinetics; Life Sciences; Piperidines - pharmacology; Positive Transcriptional Elongation Factor B - antagonists & inhibitors; Positive Transcriptional Elongation Factor B - metabolism; Purines - pharmacology; Reverse transcriptase inhibitors; Roscovitine; Viral Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors; Viral Proteins - metabolism; Virus Replication
• ISSN: 1742-4690; 1742-4690
• DOI: 10.1186/1742-4690-4-47

The positive transcription elongation factor, P-TEFb, comprised of cyclin dependent kinase 9 (Cdk9) and cyclin T1, T2 or K regulates the productive elongation phase of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) dependent transcription of cellular and integrated viral genes. P-TEFb containing cyclin T1 is recruited to the HIV long terminal repeat (LTR) by binding to HIV Tat which in turn binds to the nascent HIV transcript. Within the cell, P-TEFb exists as a kinase-active, free form and a larger, kinase-inactive form that is believed to serve as a reservoir for the smaller form. We developed a method to rapidly quantitate the relative amounts of the two forms based on differential nuclear extraction. Using this technique, we found that titration of the P-TEFb inhibitors flavopiridol, DRB and seliciclib onto HeLa cells that support HIV replication led to a dose dependent loss of the large form of P-TEFb. Importantly, the reduction in the large form correlated with a reduction in HIV-1 replication such that when 50% of the large form was gone, HIV-1 replication was reduced by 50%. Some of the compounds were able to effectively block HIV replication without having a significant impact on cell viability. The most effective P-TEFb inhibitor flavopiridol was evaluated against HIV-1 in the physiologically relevant cell types, peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) and monocyte derived macrophages (MDMs). Flavopiridol was found to have a smaller therapeutic index (LD50/IC50) in long term HIV-1 infectivity studies in primary cells due to greater cytotoxicity and reduced efficacy at blocking HIV-1 replication. Initial short term studies with P-TEFb inhibitors demonstrated a dose dependent loss of the large form of P-TEFb within the cell and a concomitant reduction in HIV-1 infectivity without significant cytotoxicity. These findings suggested that inhibitors of P-TEFb may serve as effective anti-HIV-1 therapies. However, longer term HIV-1 replication studies indicated that these inhibitors were more cytotoxic and less efficacious against HIV-1 in the primary cell cultures.