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. 2014 Dec 10;29(6):381–392. doi: 10.1007/s12250-014-3525-8

Binding of HIV-1 virions to α4β7 expressing cells and impact of antagonizing α4β7 on HIV-1 infection of primary CD4+ T cells

Chang Li 1,2, Wei Jin 1,2, Tao Du 1, Biao Wu 3, Yalan Liu 1, Robin J Shattock 4, Qinxue Hu 1,5,✉
PMCID: PMC8206286  PMID: 25527342

Abstract

HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein is reported to interact with α4β7, an integrin mediating the homing of lymphocytes to gut-associated lymphoid tissue, but the significance of α4β7 in HIV-1 infection remains controversial. Here, using HIV-1 strain BaL, the gp120 of which was previously shown to be capable of interacting with α4β7, we demonstrated that α4β7 can mediate the binding of whole HIV-1 virions to α4β7-expressing transfectants. We further constructed a cell line stably expressing α4β7 and confirmed the α4β7-mediated HIV-1 binding. In primary lymphocytes with activated α4β7 expression, we also observed significant virus binding which can be inhibited by an anti-α4β7 antibody. Moreover, we investigated the impact of antagonizing α4β7 on HIV-1 infection of primary CD4+ T cells. In α4β7-activated CD4+ T cells, both anti-α4β7 antibodies and introduction of short-hairpin RNAs specifically targeting α4β7 resulted in a decreased HIV-1 infection. Our findings indicate that α4β7 may serve as an attachment factor at least for some HIV-1 strains. The established approach provides a promising means for the investigation of other viral strains to understand the potential roles of α4β7 in HIV-1 infection.

Keywords: HIV-1, integrin α4β7, binding, infection, RNA interference, primary CD4+ T cells

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