Search

Author(s): Wenhui Li [1]; Michael J. Moore [1]; Natalya Vasilieva [2]; Jianhua Sui [3]; Swee Kee Wong [1]; Michael A. Berne [4]; Mohan Somasundaran [5]; John L. Sullivan [5]; Katherine [...]

HIV-1 is cytopathic for CD[4.sup.+] T lymphocytes in vitro and this property of HIV-1 is generally considered to account for some of its in vivo cytopathogenicity. Thus, the extent of lymphocyte depletion correlates with the level of viremia whereas low levels of viral replication are typically associated with stable lymphocyte levels and asymptomatic infection such as is observed in non-progressors. Here, we describe a non-progressor who did not fit this general pattern in that CD[4.sup.+] T lymphocyte homeostasis was maintained in the face of high-level viral replication. Biological viral isolates from this patient replicated in primary lymphocytes without inducing cytopathicity. Because this phenotype is reminiscent of Vpr-deleted viruses, we examined the contribution of the Vpr gene to the viral phenotype. Vpr alleles derived from this patient contained both premature stop codons and an unusual Q3R polymorphism. Insertion of patient-derived Vpr alleles or a Q3R substitution into a cytopathic HIV-1 clone resulted in a marked impairment of cytopathicity without affecting viral replication efficiency. The effect of Vpr on cytopathicity was unrelated to reported activities of Vpr including virion association, interaction with uracil DNA glycosylase, [G.sub.2] arrest, or enhancement of macrophage infection but correlated with the ability of Vpr to induce host cell apoptosis. This study suggests the presence of a determinant of in vivo cytopathogenicity within HIV-1 Vpr and further indicates that viral replication can be uncoupled from cytopathicity in vitro and in vivo. non-progressive infection | accessory proteins | apoptosis | pathogenesis

Cellular fractionation, insitu hybridization and electron microscopy of HIV-1-infected cells revealed that RNA transcripts of HIV-1 virus confined to the mitochondria of infected cells. A rise in HIV expression caused a simultaneous increase in the mitochondrial localization of RNA transcripts and a decrease in the survival of mitochondria. Acute HIV-1 cells contained large levels of HIV-1 RNA expression, indicating the involvement of mitochondrial-based viral transcripts in the cytopathogenicity of the HIV-1 virus.