Identification of the Envelope V3 Loop as the Primary Determinant of Cell Tropism in HIV-1

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1991-07, Vol.253 (5015), p.71-74
• Main Authors: Hwang, Stephen S., Boyle, Terence J., Lyerly, H. Kim, Cullen, Bryan R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; AIDS; AIDS/HIV; Amino Acid Sequence; Amino acids; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; Cell lines; Cell Movement - genetics; Cellular biology; Chimera; COS cells; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes, env - physiology; Haplorhini; HIV; HIV (Viruses); HIV 1; HIV-1 - genetics; HIV-1 - physiology; Infections; Macrophages; Medical research; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Proviruses; Replicative cycle, interference, host-virus relations, pathogenicity, miscellaneous strains; Reproduction; Restriction Mapping; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; T lymphocytes; Tropism; Tropisms; Viral Envelope Proteins - genetics; Virology; Viruses
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1905842

Cells of the monocyte-macrophage lineage are targets for human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infection in vivo. However, many laboratory strains of HIV-1 that efficiently infect transformed T cell lines replicate poorly in macrophages. A 20-amino acid sequence from the macrophage-tropic BaL isolate of HIV-1 was sufficient to confer macrophage tropism on HTLV-IIIB, a T cell line-tropic isolate. This small sequence element is in the V3 loop, the envelope domain that is the principal neutralizing determinant of HIV-1. Thus, the V3 loop not only serves as a target of the host immune response but is also pivotal in determining HIV-1 tissue tropism.