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The Journal of Experimental Medicine logoLink to The Journal of Experimental Medicine
. 1991 Feb 1;173(2):511–514. doi: 10.1084/jem.173.2.511

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in CD4+ T lymphocytes genetically deficient in LFA-1: LFA-1 is required for HIV-mediated cell fusion but not for viral transmission

PMCID: PMC2118777  PMID: 1671082

Abstract

In the present study, we demonstrated that expression of the LFA-1 molecule is necessary for cell fusion and syncytia formation in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected CD4+ T lymphocytes. In contrast, the lack of expression of LFA-1 does not influence significantly cell- to-cell transmission of HIV. In fact, LFA-1- T lymphocytes obtained from a leukocyte adhesion deficiency patient were unable to fuse and form syncytia when infected with HIV-1 or HIV-2, despite the fact that efficiency of HIV infection (i.e., virus entry, HIV spreading, and levels of virus replication) was comparable with that observed in LFA- 1+ T lymphocytes. In addition, we provide evidence that LFA-1 by mediating cell fusion contributes to the depletion of HIV-infected CD4+ T lymphocytes in vitro.

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Selected References

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