Seven envelope regions from two series of patient isolates have been molecularly cloned and analyzed for replication phenotypes and immunogenicity. Growth potential was analyzed for env sequences substituted into an HIV-1-NL4-3 backbone (NL4-3/env recombinants). Immunogenicity studies were conducted on secreted monomeric (gp120) and oligomeric (gp140) forms of the Envs using Env-expressing plasmid DNAs for immunizations. The env regions of the patient isolates conferred a spectrum of replication kinetics and cytotropisms on the NL4-3/env recombinants. Both patient series included non-syncytium-inducing viruses with no ability to grow on T-cell lines, and highly syncytium inducing viruses which grew well on T-cell lines. These differences in growth potential did not correlate with the ability of the DNA-expressed Envs to raise antibody in rabbits. Rather, the relative immunogenicity of the Envs was patient and form specific. The Envs from patient 5 raised higher titers of antibody than the Envs from patient 6. For each primary Env, the gp120 form of the Env raised higher titers of antibody than the gp140 form. Thus, structural features of Env that affect replication do not necessarily affect the ability to raise antibody.

Isolates of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) undergo many different rates of replication, with the time course of replication being determined by the host cell and the virus. Recently, we demonstrated that the permissiveness of four CD4+ T-cell lines for the laboratory strain NL4-3 correlated with the rate and efficiency of virus entry. In this study, we have analyzed the replication of a "slow/low" isolate from the pre-AIDS period of infection and two "rapid/high" isolates from the AIDS period of infection to determine which steps in the virus life cycle determine differences in the growth characteristics of patient isolates. Differences in the growth of the patient isolates correlated with differences in entry but not postentry steps of the virus life cycle. The two rapid/high patient isolates (SF33 and SF216) underwent 50% entry in less than or equal to 0.5 hr in C8166 cells, in less than or equal to 1 hr in mitogen-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and in greater than or equal to 2.5 hr in H9 cells. In contrast, a class 3 slow/low patient isolate required 1 hr for 50% entry into C8166 cells, 3 hr for 50% entry into peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and 5-6 hr for 50% entry into H9 cells. Entry efficiency correlated with entry rate, with the rapid/high viruses having a 2-fold higher titer and the slow/low virus having a 5-fold higher titer on C8166 than H9 cells. The laboratory strain NL4-3 displayed intermediate rates and efficiencies of entry. These data demonstrate that entry characteristics are major determinants of the pathogenic potential of patient isolates.

Single-cycle infections have been used to study the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) life cycle in CD4+ T-cell lines that differ in their permissiveness for infection. In single-cycle infections of highly permissive C8166 cells, 50% of the infectious units escaped being blocked by a monoclonal antibody against the virus binding site on CD4 (leu3a) within 30 min. In contrast, 50% of the infectious units for three less permissive cell lines (H9, A3.01, and Jurkat) required 4 h to escape the leu3a block. Entry was also more efficient in the highly permissive cells, with NL4-3 stocks having three times more infectious units for C8166 cells than for H9, A3.01, or Jurkat cells. Postentry steps up through reverse transcription required approximately 3.5 h in each of the cell lines. The times lapsing between reverse transcription and the expression of reverse transcripts ranged from 17 to 25 h in the different cell lines. Virus production per cell was also similar in the different cell lines (within 1.5-fold of each other). These results indicate that a major determinant of the permissiveness of growing T cells for HIV-1 is the rate and efficiency of virus entry.