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As a natural mutation of the human ccr5 gene has been shown to confer resistance to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection, a new avenue has opened in the development of alternative treatment approaches through genome editing. One of the two chemokine co-receptors of the plasma membrane is utilized by HIV-1 to infect CD4 + cells. HIV-1 strains that utilize CCR5 circulate in early infection, and strains that utilize CXCR4 circulate at advanced stages. A complex relationship may exist in the expression regulation of the receptors and may affect virus replication in cells that normally do not express CCR5 on the membrane, such as the MT-4 cell line. MT-4 cells were used to study the effect of ccr5 modification HIV-1 replication in vitro. Genetic modification of ccr5 in MT-4 cells was shown to increase the activities of HIV-1 strains, especially in homozygote. The results indicate that genome editing should be performed with caution in human cells and that the issue needs comprehensive investigation., (© 2023. Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.)

In this study was made an attempt to reveal additional laboratory markers of white blood for preliminary estimation level of HIV-infection development. Essentially such markers these are in progress without complex equipment and expensive reagent. It was studied alterations of basic values cells of innate and acquired immunity of peripheral blood HIV-infected individuals with and without antiretroviral treatment (ART) during infection. It was estimate value leukocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, lymhpocytes, T-lymhpocytes, CD 4 + , CD 8 + T-cells, CD 4 /CD 8 index. It was used the first analysis in the time of registration for regular medical check-up and the intermediate derived during 2017-2018 years. Patients without ART and with ART before and after treatment had rates of leukocytes, lymhpocytes, T-lymhpocytes, monocytes and neutrophils within the normal guideline. Essential changes were observed in basic conventional laboratory parameters evaluation of HIV-infection dynamic (parameters of CD 4 + , CD 8 + T-cells, CD 4 /CD 8 index). Thereby it was impossible to reveal supplementary immunological markers of HIVinfection., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

It was studied in vitro the immunomodulatory effect of plasma HIV-infected individuals on expression of activation markers when used as a model neoplastic cell line MT-4. Carrying out researches indicated the variation in expression of the activation markers CD28+, CD38+, HLA-DR+ и CD69+. Change dynamics of these indices showed that these proteins can to consider as markers for level evaluation of patients immune system during used of plasma HIV-infected individuals with and without antiretroviral treatment (ART). Analysis revealed reduction of cells activation potential in plasma of patients with ART presence and rise without treatment. Examinations of the expression proteins CD28, CD38, HLA-DR и CD69 MT-4 cells and plasma of patients with HIV-infection application can have prognostic value for infection monitoring and efficacy of different therapeutic approaches., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

In this work the proinflammatory (IL-1β, IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-2) and anti-inflammatory (IL-4, IL-10) plasma cytokine levels were evaluated in HIV-infected patients with or without antiretroviral treatment (ART). IFN-γ was detected in 94% samples with and without ART, TNF-α in 88% and IL-2 in 38% samples without ART, as well as in 12% and 30% samples with ART, respectively. Positive correlation was detected between viral RNA and IFN-γ levels (rs = 0.13) and negative correlation (rs = -0.242) in the patients without or with ART. Cosecretion of three cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-2) was detected in 31% samples and two cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α) in 35% samples of persons without ART. Cosecretion of three cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-2) was detected in 20% samples with ART; cosecretion of IFN-γ and IL-2 was detected in 10% samples. The higher percentage of the proinflammatory cytokines with cosecretion was detected in plasma HIV-infected patients without ART in the course of 6 and more years, which suggests that their immune system is able to provide disease control.

Fractions of aqueous and water-alcohol extracts of the birch fungus Inonotus obliquus have antiviral effect against the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Antiviral properties of low toxic extracts were manifested in the concentration of 5.0 μg/ml upon simultaneous application with the virus in the lymphoblastoid cells culture MT-4. The extract of the birch fungus can be used for development of new antiviral drugs, inhibitors of HIV-replication when used both in the form of individual drugs and as a part of complex therapy.

For the purpose of finding effective inhibitors of virus adsorption the series of inositol-containing phospholipid dimer analogues were previously synthesized. In the present work, the antiretroviral activity of these compounds against HIV-1 was demonstrated on the model of cells infected with the virus. The highest effect was found in the case of dimer poliol 5, EC50 (50%-effective concentration) was 3.9 microg/ml. The development of new polyanionic compounds, which can interfere with early steps of the virus life cycle, is a promising addition to the antiretroviral therapy based on the virus enzyme inhibitors.

The peripheral blood counts of CD4+, CD8+, and CD4/CD8 in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 subtype A-infected patients were comparatively analyzed with the data of a genetic study of the pol gene. Thirty peripheral blood samples from antiretroviral-naïve patients with grade 3 (sublinical) HIV infection were analyzed. According to the presence or absence of mutations V77I in protease and/or A62V in reverse transcriptase, the patients were divided into 2 study groups. The genetic analysis of the groups indicated that 19.5% of the study samples had no mutations; 75% contained one or both mutations, of them 36% contained both mutations. Immunological study showed that the median CD4+, CD8+, and CD4/CD8 in the patients infected with virus variants containing mutations V77I and/or A62V were increased by 25, 20, and 16%, respectively. The findings suggest that these mutations may be associated with an immune response in HIV-infected patients.

Ferrovir (trivalent iron in complex with native sturgeon milt DNA) is nontoxic, its 50% inhibiting concentration (IC50) is at least 4000 micrograms/ml, 90% effective concentration (EC90) towards HIV-1 is 800 micrograms/ml. These effects do not depend on the cell culture or individual biological characteristics and subtypes of 7 strains of HIV-1 used in our study. The chemotherapeutic index of the drug is more than 20. Combined therapy with ferrovir and retrovir had an additive antiviral effect. Ferrovir reduced the titer of human CMV in fibroblast culture by 1-2 Ig TCD50. Ferrovir protected mice after intracerebral inoculation with lethal herpes simplex virus (type 1) (survival 33.7%, protection 27.1%, which is close to the reference group treated with zovirax). These facts evidence antiviral activity of ferrovir towards RNA and DNA viruses and prompt further study of this drug with the aim of its clinical application.

HIV strains were isolated from HIV-infected patients and AIDS patients in CIS. A total of 81 HIV isolates were obtained. The isolates were identified by using immunofluorescence and enzyme immunoassay, by determining the activity of reverse transcriptase, immunoblot, electron microscopy, polymerase chain reaction. Of the 81 isolates 79 were HIV-1 and 2 HIV-2. The strains differed in their infectivity, the kinetics of virus antigen accumulation, and the spectrum of susceptible cell lines. The viruses isolated may be assigned as two groups: high and low infective. The biological properties of the national HIV isolates were shown to be similar to the prototype HIV strains isolated elsewhere.

Fifty-seven HIV-1 strains were isolated from peripheral blood lymphocytes of 102 HIV-infected persons involved in epidemic outbreaks in different cities of the USSR. The effectiveness of isolation was 29.1% in asymptomatic infection, 51.7% in cases with generalized lymphadenopathy, and 82.6% in persons with severe clinical manifestations. Identification of the isolates by indirect immunofluorescence, ELISA, reverse transcriptase activity, Western blot, electron microscopy, and polymerase chain reaction showed them to belong to HIV-1 type. Reproduction of the isolates in cell cultures was accompanied by cytopathic effect and syncytium formation. The isolated strains can be divided into two groups: (1) the poorly growing isolates with low or negative RT and ELISA results and (2) the isolates with high infectivity, broad spectrum of cell tropism, and high levels of RT and ELISA. These data show the correlation of biological properties of HIV-1 strains isolated in the USSR with those of HIV strains previously isolated in Europe, USA, and Africa.

The paper deals with further search for substances modifying metabolic processes, changing the conditions of virus existence in the host cell and, consequently, possessing a certain antiviral activity. The antiviral effects of aromatic carbonic acids amides including trisubstituted benzamides and nicotinamide were tested. Five out of 8 substances tested possessed antiviral activity which might be due to their capacity to inhibit the activity of the enzymes of ADP-ribosylation. By blocking cellular processes of ADP-ribosylation, the substances under study depressed DNA capacity for reparation, inhibited differentiation and transformation of cells, i.e. had an indirect effect on reproduction of viruses. The universal nature of the processes coursing with participation of NAD(+)-dependent ADP-ribosylation suggests that the range of antiviral activity of inhibitors of mono- and poly-ADP-ribosylation would not be limited to HIV infection but would be rather wide.

A karyological analysis of twenty-two variants of eight cell lines, which differed in their susceptibility to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and which had been obtained from different sources, was carried out by means of differential chromosome staining for G and C bands. The karyotypes of eight T-lymphoblastoid cell lines were identified, including five (MT-4, Molt-3, CEM, H-9, and Hut-78) not previously studied by cytogenetic methods. Karyotyping confirmed the identity of seventeen variants of the eight cell lines, and five variants of four lines were found to be misidentified. Comparative analysis of the cytogenetic characteristics of the three CEM-line variants demonstrates the need for karyotype evaluation in the course of in vitro cell cultivation. Fourteen identical marker chromosomes were revealed in H-9 and Hut-78 cell karyotypes, confirming the common origin of these two lines. It was found that the cells of the HIV-susceptible lines had a tendency to undergo polyploidisation both during the initial stages after isolation and in the course of cultivation.