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An Alteration of Human Immunodeficiency Virus gp41 Leads to Reduced CCR5 Dependence and CD4 Independence

Institute of Human Virology,¹ Department of Medicine,² School of Medicine, and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland Baltimore, 725 W. Lombard St., Baltimore, Maryland 21201³

Received 14 May 2007/ Accepted 11 March 2008

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 infection requires functional interactions of the viral surface (gp120) glycoprotein with cell surface CD4 and a chemokine coreceptor (usually CCR5 or CXCR4) and of the viral transmembrane (gp41) glycoprotein with the target cell membrane. Extensive genetic variability, generally in gp120 and the gp41 ectodomain, can result in altered coreceptor use, fusion kinetics, and neutralization sensitivity. Here we describe an R5 HIV variant that, in contrast to its parental virus, infects T-cell lines expressing low levels of cell surface CCR5. This correlated with an ability to infect cells in the absence of CD4, increased sensitivity to a neutralizing antibody recognizing the coreceptor binding site of gp120, and increased resistance to the fusion inhibitor T-20. Surprisingly, these properties were determined by alterations in gp41, including the cytoplasmic tail, a region not previously shown to influence coreceptor use. These data indicate that HIV infection of cells with limiting levels of cell surface CCR5 can be facilitated by gp41 sequences that are not exposed on the envelope ectodomain yet induce allosteric changes in gp120 that facilitate exposure of the CCR5 binding site.

Published ahead of print on 19 March 2008.