Browsing by keyword "Cyclophilin A"
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Cyclophilin A promotes HIV-1 reverse transcription but its effect on transduction correlates best with its effect on nuclear entry of viral cDNABACKGROUND: The human peptidyl-prolyl isomerase Cyclophilin A (CypA) binds HIV-1 capsid (CA) and influences early steps in the HIV-1 replication cycle. The mechanism by which CypA regulates HIV-1 transduction efficiency is unknown. Disruption of CypA binding to CA, either by genetic means or by the competitive inhibitor cyclosporine A (CsA), reduces the efficiency of HIV-1 transduction in some cells but not in others. Transduction of certain cell types increases significantly when CypA binding to particular HIV-1 CA mutants, i.e., A92E, is prevented. Previous studies have suggested that this cell type-specific effect is due to a dominant-acting, CypA-dependent restriction factor. RESULTS: Here we investigated the mechanism by which CypA regulates HIV-1 transduction efficiency using 27 different human cell lines, 32 HeLa subclones, and several previously characterized HIV-1 CA mutants. Disruption of CypA binding to wild-type CA, or to any of the mutant CAs, caused a decrease in HIV-1 reverse transcription in all the cell lines analyzed here. This block to reverse transcription, though, did not correlate with cell type-specific effects on transduction efficiency. The level of 2-LTR circles, a marker for nuclear transport of the viral cDNA that results from reverse transcription, correlated closely with effects on infectivity. No correlation was observed between the cell type-specific effects on infectivity and the steady-state CypA protein levels in these cells. Instead, as indicated by a fate-of-capsid assay, CsA released the HIV-1 CA core from an apparent state of hyperstabilization, in a cell type-specific manner. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that, while CypA promotes reverse transcription under all conditions tested here, its effect on HIV-1 infectivity correlates more closely with effects on nuclear entry of the viral cDNA. The data also support the hypothesis that a cell-type specific CypA-dependent restriction factor blocks HIV-1 replication by delaying CA core uncoating and hindering nuclear entry.
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HIV-1 Evasion of Human TRIM5α via Cyclophilin AThe abundant cellular protein Cyclophilin A (CypA) was found to bind to HIV-1 capsid (CA) in 1993. Since that time, several complementary methods, including disruption of the binding interface by cyclosporine A, CA mutants, and CypA mutants, have been used to demonstrate that CypA acts within human target cells to promote HIV-1 infection. In contrast, in cells from non-human primates, CypA in target cells decreases HIV-1 infectivity, and it does so by promoting TRIM5α-mediated restriction. Using human cancer cell lines and the genetic methods available at the time, attempts to obtain evidence that CypA inhibits HIV-1 restriction by the human TRIM5α ortholog, let alone that human TRIM5α restricts HIV-1, were unsuccessful. Here we revisit the question of the mechanism by which CypA increases HIV-1 infectivity by exploiting lentiviral vectors optimized for primary human blood cells that serve as HIV-1 targets. Disruption of CA−CypA interaction is demonstrated to render HIV-1 vulnerable to endogenous human TRIM5α-mediated recognition and restriction, which occur prior to completion of reverse transcription. Identical findings were acquired with single-cycle vectors or with replication-competent viruses. Consistently, a previously identified, cyclosporine-resistant CA mutation A92E is also shown to confer resistance against restriction by human TRIM5α. Therefore, the results presented in this thesis reveal that HIV-1 exploits a host protein CypA bound to its CA to evade potent restriction by human TRIM5α. This finding not only answers a long-standing question regarding the role of CypA in HIV-1 infection, but also may reinvigorate the development of CypA inhibitors for treatment of HIV-1.

