一个新的HIV-1治疗靶——Tat转录激活蛋白(英)

Tat是HIV-1病毒进行转录和复制的一个十分重要的蛋白质,同时,Tat也与HIV-1感染引起的严重病理学程度密切相关.Tat 的生物学性质和功能决定了其是一个理想的开发抗AIDS疫苗和药物的靶蛋白.基于Tat自身及其作用的TAR RNA,可以设计Tat疫苗、细胞外结合Tat的拮抗剂、抗Tat的反义核酸、抗TAR的反义核酸、抗Tat的细胞内抗体和细胞内Tat协同因子的抑制剂等.传统的抗病毒药物及蛋白酶抑制剂与新的细胞内和细胞外Tat拮抗剂联合使用,多靶点地抑制HIV-1的复制将是一个有效的抗AIDS的治疗方案.这一治疗方案能够防止HIV病毒耐药株的产生,减少单一作用靶点药物的用药剂量和降低相应的毒性,最终治愈AIDS相关的病理学变化.     

Tat翻译后修饰调控HIV-1的转录

HIV-1病毒感染机体靶细胞后,可通过一系列调控蛋白和辅助蛋白来改变宿主环境,以逃避免疫反应和促进病毒复制。调控蛋白Tat在病毒初始转录阶段与多种转录辅助因子相互作用,控制HIV-1基因组转录和潜伏期病毒的激活等,被称为HIV-1的反式转录激活因子。翻译后修饰是一种可逆过程,在Tat与不同转录辅助蛋白之间扮演了至关重要的角色。磷酸化可以促进Tat与TAR RNA结合,乙酰化能够巩固Tat/P-TEFb/TAR RNA复合体的形成,或增加染色质修饰和重塑,增强HIV-1基因组转录起始。Tat发生泛素化修饰可导致其表达下降并阻断转录,也可表现为其水平的稳定。Tat甲基化后对转录的影响不同,甚至完全相反。因此,这可能成为逆转录病毒复制和传播的潜在靶点。本文就Tat在HIV-1基因组转录和复制中涉及蛋白质磷酸化、乙酰化、泛素化和甲基化修饰方面的研究进展进行总结,以促进人们对Tat翻译后修饰与HIV-1转录机制的理解,并为抗HIV转录的新型药物发掘奠定理论基础。     

HIV-1辅受体及针对辅受体的艾滋病治疗策略

艾滋病(AIDS)是由人类免疫缺陷病毒(Human immunodeficiency virus, HIV)引起的严重危害人类健康的世界性传染病,目前尚无有效的预防和治疗措施.虽然近年高效抗逆转录病毒疗法(HAART)明显提高了AIDS的临床疗效,但由于HIV的高度变异性、化疗药物的毒副作用及价格昂贵等因素,多种新的抗HIV药物的开发研究仍有增无减[1].HIV-1辅受体的发现不仅有助于理解HIV-1感染靶细胞的发病机理,而且为抗HIV治疗提供了新的作用靶点.HIV-1辅受体及其抑制剂已成为目前抗HIV-1治疗研究的热点,现将有关的研究进展作一综述.     

HIV-1整合酶及其抑制剂的研究进展

HIV-1整合酶是由HIV病毒pol基因编码的分子量为32KD的蛋白质,是HIV病毒复制的必需酶之一,它催化病毒DNA整合入宿主染色体DNA。人类细胞中没有HIV 整合酶的类似物[1],理论上抑制整合酶对人体副作用很小。因此HIV-1整合酶成为继HIV-1蛋白酶,逆转录酶后治疗艾滋病的富有吸引力和合理的靶标。本文综述了HIV整合酶结构,抑制剂的研究以及以HIV-1 整和酶为靶点治疗AIDS方法的最新研究进展。     

CDK蛋白在HIV-1复制中的作用研究进展

人类免疫缺陷综合征（Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome,AIDS）是由人免疫缺陷病毒（Human immunodeficiency virus,HIV）感染引起的慢性传染性疾病。HIV根据病毒基因组结构的差异分为HIV-1和HIV-2,而HIV-1是主要的病原体。细胞周期蛋白依赖性激酶（Cyclin dependent kinases,CDKs）在HIV-1复制过程中不可或缺,尤其是在逆转录、转录及病毒RNA加工过程中起到至关重要的作用。本文对CDKs结构、分类及其在HIV-1复制中发挥的作用展开综述,以期为开发针对CDKs靶点的抗HIV-1药物和艾滋病治疗提供线索与思路。     

上海地区人类免疫缺陷病毒1型感染/艾滋病患者病毒耐药基因突变及亚型分布

目的 研究上海地区人类免疫缺陷病毒1型(HIV-1)感染／艾滋病(AIDS)患者中HIV-1耐药株出现的情况及亚型分布。方法 对33例HIV-1感染／AIDS患者的血浆HIV-1分离株,进行抗HIV-1药物(核苷类反转录酶抑制剂、非核苷类反转录酶抑制剂和蛋白酶抑制剂)的基因型耐药检测和亚型分析。结果 33例的HIV-1均未检出对PI的耐药突变;10例高效抗反转录病毒疗法(HAART)治疗失败或抑制病毒复制不完全者中,检出的耐药突变为70％,过渡型耐药突变为20％;23例未经抗HIV-1治疗者中,耐药突变为4．3％,过渡型耐药突变为13％。所有过渡型耐药突变均为T215S。15例经血制品传播的HIV- 1均为B亚型;18例经吸毒和性传播的HIV-1中,B和CRF01-AE亚型分别为39％,和33％,此外,还有C、D、G、K和CRF02-AG亚型。结论 上海地区HIV-1感染／AIDS患者中,HAART治疗失败或复制抑制不完全者HIV-1的NRTI和NNRTI耐药突变率高;吸毒和性传播者的HIV-1中,除主要为B和CRF01-AE亚型外,尚有其他少见的亚型。     

TAR RNA结合蛋白在HIV-1感染中的作用

TARRNA结合蛋白是细胞中双链RNA结合蛋白家族成员之一.它可以结合HIV-1TARRNA,并与Tat协同作用激活LTR表达,进而促进病毒的转录与翻译.TRBP也是将干扰素抗病毒通路与RNA干扰免疫通路相连的一种细胞蛋白.在干扰素诱生的PKR反应中,TRBP通过直接抑制PKR的自磷酸化、与PKR竞争通用的RNA底物或与PACT形成异源二聚体等机制抑制细胞内的PKR反应,从而降低了PKR介导的对病毒表达的抑制作用.TRBP与Dicer和Ago2等组成的RNA诱导沉默复合体,在RNA干扰中发挥着关键作用并调控随后的序列特异性降解.在HIV-1感染中,TRBP更倾向于促进病毒的表达与复制,因此TRBP也成为控制HIV-1感染的新靶点.     

适配子对人类免疫缺陷病毒的抑制作用

人类免疫缺陷病毒在机体细胞内不断复制并发生变异,以拮抗外界环境发生的变化。尽管高效抗逆转录病毒治疗方案(HAART)在治疗艾滋病方面取得了较大进展,但该疗法服用方法复杂、副作用较大及药物价格昂贵,因此仍需要开发新的方法来治疗HIV-1感染。最近备受关注的是适配子为基础的疗法。适配子具有特异性高、靶标单一和通用性等特点,可将其用于治疗多种疾病。在本文中,我们将介绍核酸适配子抗HIV-1作用的研究进展,并讨论抗HIV-1核酸适配子的应用前景及面临的挑战,为开发新的抗HIV-1药物提供理论支持。     

HIV-1基因表达的转录调控

高效抗逆转录病毒治疗（HAART）可以有效地抑制人类免疫缺陷病毒Ⅰ型（HIV-1）的复制及血浆病毒载量,延缓发病进程,改善、提高患者的生活质量和存活时间。但是,一旦停止治疗就会导致血浆病毒血症迅速反弹,HIV-1以原病毒的形式在静息记忆CD4⁺T等细胞中的持续存在是清除HIV-1的一个障碍。HIV-1基因转录的激活与阻抑决定了受感染细胞进入产毒性感染或潜伏感染。本文从原病毒整合位置与转录干扰、细胞转录因子与HIV-1启动子相互作用招募RNA聚合酶起始转录、转录的表观遗传调控和反式激活因子Tat及其相关蛋白促进转录延伸等方面探讨了HIV-1原病毒转录调控机制。     

Pentosan polysulfate as an inhibitor of extracellular HIV-1 Tat

HIV-1 Tat protein, released from HIV-infected cells, may act as a pleiotropic heparin-binding growth factor. From this observation, extracellular Tat has been implicated in the pathogenesis of AIDS and of AIDS-associated pathologies. Here we demonstrate that the heparin analog pentosan polysulfate (PPS) inhibits the interaction of glutathione S-transferase (GST)-Tat protein with heparin immobilized to a BIAcore sensor chip. Competition experiments showed that Tat-PPS interaction occurs with high affinity (K(d) = 9.0 nm). Also, GST.Tat prevents the binding of [(3)H]heparin to GST.Tat immobilized to glutathione-agarose beads. In vitro, PPS inhibits GST.Tat internalization and, consequently, HIV-1 long terminal repeat transactivation in HL3T1 cells. Also, PPS inhibits cell surface interaction and mitogenic activity of GST.Tat in murine adenocarcinoma T53 Tat-less cells. In all assays, PPS exerts its Tat antagonist activity with an ID(50) equal to approximately 1.0 nm. In vivo, PPS inhibits the neovascularization induced by GST.Tat or by Tat-overexpressing T53 cells in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane. In conclusion, PPS binds Tat protein and inhibits its cell surface interaction, internalization, and biological activity in vitro and in vivo. PPS may represent a prototypic molecule for the development of novel Tat antagonists with therapeutic implications in AIDS and AIDS-associated pathologies, including Kaposi's sarcoma.     

Targeting Tat and IFN(alpha) as a therapeutic AIDS vaccine

Evolution to AIDS is characterized by a progressive cellular immune suppression. Although there is substantial evidence for several mechanisms involved in disrupting the immune response by induction of apoptosis in responder cells by contact with infected cells, we propose that humoral factors also play a role, and that one such factor is the extracellular form of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 Tat protein and another is IFN(alpha). Both Tat and interferon-alpha (IFN(alpha)) inhibit antigen-stimulate T-cell proliferation, and specific anti-Tat and/or anti-IFN(alpha) Abs prevent generation of HIV-1-induced suppressor cells. We propose that high titer anti-Tat and/or anti-IFN(alpha) Abs, neutralizing extracellular Tat, and/or IFN(alpha), induced by vaccines described here, antagonize HIV-1-induced immunosuppression. Innocuous vaccines were prepared by using inactivated but immunogenic Tat (Toxoid) and inactivated and immunogenic IFN(alpha) (kinoid) derivatives. Both Tat Toxoid and IFN(alpha) kinoid were well tolerated and elicited specific neutralizing antibodies (Abs) in mice, monkeys, and seronegative and HIV-1-infected individuals.     

Relationships between the presence of anti-Tat antibody, DNA and RNA viral load

The possible relationships between the intensity of humoral response to full length Tat protein, the amount of proviral DNA reservoir in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and RNA viral load were analyzed in plasma samples obtained from a group of HIV-1 seropositive subjects, who never received any antiretroviral therapy. All HIV-1 patients showed detectable levels of serum IgG to full-length Tat by immunoenzymatic assay. We found a higher percentage of HIV-1 seropositive subjects with low levels of antibody in the presence of barely detectable proviral DNA copies (< or =10 copies/1.5x10(5) PBMCs) and a high anti-Tat antibody response accompanied by variable (from >10(1) to > or =10(3) copies/1.5x10(5) PBMCs) levels of DNA load (p=0.011). Moreover, an inverse relationship between anti-Tat antibody titers and HIV-1 RNA viral load was demonstrated HIV-1 seropositive patients. In HIV-1-infected patients, a strong humoral immune response against HIV-1 transactivating Tat protein, able to down-modulate viral replication in peripheral blood, does not seem to inhibit the number of proviral DNA molecules in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Even though our data strongly confirm the "positive" role of anti-Tat antibody on viral replication, the persistence of significant amount of DNA viral load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, despite high level of anti Tat antibody, suggests a more cautious approach to HIV-1 Tat-containing vaccines, able to stimulate an immune specific response to transactivating Tat protein sufficient in inhibiting circulating virus, but not completely efficient in decreasing proviral DNA integration.     

Inhibition of HIV-1 Tat-mediated LTR transactivation and HIV-1 infection by anti-Tat single chain intrabodies.

Genes encoding the rearranged immunoglobulin heavy and light chain variable regions of anti-HIV-1 Tat, exon 1 or exon 2 specific monoclonal antibodies have been used to construct single chain intracellular antibodies 'intrabodies' for expression in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells. These anti-Tat single chain intrabodies (anti-Tat sFvs) are additionally modified with a C-terminal human C kappa domain to increase cytoplasmic stability and/or the C-terminal SV40 nuclear localization signal to direct the nascent intrabody to the nuclear compartment, respectively. The anti-Tat sFvs with specific binding activity against the N-terminal activation domain of Tat, block Tat-mediated transactivation of HIV-1 LTR as well as intracellular trafficking of Tat in mammalian cells. As a result, the transformed lymphocytes expressing anti-Tat sFvs are resistant to HIV-1 infection. Thus, these studies demonstrate that stably expressed single chain intrabodies and their modified forms can effectively target molecules in the cytoplasm and nuclear compartments of eukaryotic cells. Furthermore, these studies suggest that anti-Tat sFvs used either alone or in combination with other genetically based strategies may be useful for the gene therapy of HIV-1 infection and AIDS.     

Characterization of Tat Antibody Responses in Chinese Individuals Infected with HIV-1

HIV-1 Tat is an important regulatory protein involved in AIDS pathogenesis. However, the immunoprofiles of anti-Tat responses remain unclear. We analysed the immunoprofiles of the anti-Tat antibody responses and the neutralizing activities. Out of 326 HIV-1-seropositive individuals, 12.9% were positive for anti-Tat antibodies. We found six different immunological profiles of anti-Tat antibody responses: full-potential response, combined response, N-specific response, C-specific response, full-length Tat-specific response and Tat-related response. These responses represent two types of anti-Tat responses: the major complete response and the alternative C-prone response. A Tat-neutralizing activity is significantly higher in anti-Tat-seropositive samples than anti-Tat-negative or healthy blood-donor samples, and significantly correlates with the anti-Tat reactivities. The data here could contribute to a better understanding of the significance of anti-Tat responses in preventing HIV pathogenesis and could be useful for designing more effective vaccines in the future.     

The Grafting of Universal T-Helper Epitopes Enhances Immunogenicity of HIV-1 Tat Concurrently Improving Its Safety Profile

Extracellular Tat (eTat) plays an important role in HIV-1 pathogenesis. The presence of anti-Tat antibodies is negatively correlated with disease progression, hence making Tat a potential vaccine candidate. The cytotoxicity and moderate immunogenicity of Tat however remain impediments for developing Tat-based vaccines. Here, we report a novel strategy to concurrently enhance the immunogenicity and safety profile of Tat. The grafting of universal helper T-lymphocyte (HTL) epitopes, Pan DR Epitope (PADRE) and Pol₇₁₁ into the cysteine rich domain (CRD) and the basic domain (BD) abolished the transactivation potential of the Tat protein. The HTL-Tat proteins elicited a significantly higher titer of antibodies as compared to the wild-type Tat in BALB/c mice. While the N-terminal epitope remained immunodominant in HTL-Tat immunizations, an additional epitope in exon-2 was recognized with comparable magnitude suggesting a broader immune recognition. Additionally, the HTL-Tat proteins induced cross-reactive antibodies of high avidity that efficiently neutralized exogenous Tat, thus blocking the activation of a Tat-defective provirus. With advantages such as presentation of multiple B-cell epitopes, enhanced antibody response and importantly, transactivation-deficient Tat protein, this approach has potential application for the generation of Tat-based HIV/AIDS vaccines.     

HIV-1 Tat Promotes Integrin-Mediated HIV Transmission to Dendritic Cells by Binding Env Spikes and Competes Neutralization by Anti-HIV Antibodies

Use of Env in HIV vaccine development has been disappointing. Here we show that, in the presence of a biologically active Tat subunit vaccine, a trimeric Env protein prevents in monkeys virus spread from the portal of entry to regional lymph nodes. This appears to be due to specific interactions between Tat and Env spikes that form a novel virus entry complex favoring R5 or X4 virus entry and productive infection of dendritic cells (DCs) via an integrin-mediated pathway. These Tat effects do not require Tat-transactivation activity and are blocked by anti-integrin antibodies (Abs). Productive DC infection promoted by Tat is associated with a highly efficient virus transmission to T cells. In the Tat/Env complex the cysteine-rich region of Tat engages the Env V3 loop, whereas the Tat RGD sequence remains free and directs the virus to integrins present on DCs. V2 loop deletion, which unshields the CCR5 binding region of Env, increases Tat/Env complex stability. Of note, binding of Tat to Env abolishes neutralization of Env entry or infection of DCs by anti-HIV sera lacking anti-Tat Abs, which are seldom present in natural infection. This is reversed, and neutralization further enhanced, by HIV sera containing anti-Tat Abs such as those from asymptomatic or Tat-vaccinated patients, or by sera from the Tat/Env vaccinated monkeys. Thus, both anti-Tat and anti-Env Abs are required for efficient HIV neutralization. These data suggest that the Tat/Env interaction increases HIV acquisition and spreading, as a mechanism evolved by the virus to escape anti-Env neutralizing Abs. This may explain the low effectiveness of Env-based vaccines, which are also unlikely to elicit Abs against new Env epitopes exposed by the Tat/Env interaction. As Tat also binds Envs from different clades, new vaccine strategies should exploit the Tat/Env interaction for both preventative and therapeutic interventions.     

HIV-1 Tat causes apoptotic death and calcium homeostasis alterations in rat neurons

We investigated the role of the HIV-1 protein Tat in AIDS-associated dementia, by studying its toxicity on rat cortical and hippocampal neurons in vitro. We evaluated the involvement of astroglial cells and of caspase transduction pathway in determining Tat toxicity. Here we report that synthetic Tat(1-86) induced apoptotic death on cultured rat neurons in a time-dependent manner that was not influenced by glial coculture, and that was abolished by blocking caspase transduction pathway. A microfluorimetric analysis on the Tat excitatory properties on neurons, and its effect on intracellular calcium concentrations, revealed that Tat(1-86) induced increase in cytoplasmic free calcium concentrations in rat hippocampal and cortical neurons. This effect required extracellular calcium and was differently reduced by voltage dependent calcium channel blockers and both NMDA and non-NMDA glutamate receptors antagonists. Furthermore, we observed that Tat(1-86)-treated neurons showed increased sensitivity to the glutamate excitotoxicity. Thus, the Tat-induced neuronal injury seems to occur through a direct interaction of the protein with neurons, requires activation of caspases, and is likely to derive from Tat(1-86)-induced calcium loads and disruption of glutamatergic transmission.