Short report
M48U1 CD4 mimetic has a sustained inhibitory effect on cell-associated HIV-1 by attenuating virion infectivity through gp120 shedding
- † Equal contributors
1 Department of Biomedical Sciences, Unit of Virology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, B-2000, Belgium
2 Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, San Diego, CA 92121, USA
3 Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, iBiTecS, SIMOPRO, Gif sur Yvette, F-91191, France
4 Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, B-2000, Belgium
Retrovirology 2013, 10:12 doi:10.1186/1742-4690-10-12
Published: 1 February 2013Abstract
Background
HIV-1 infected cells can establish new infections by crossing the vaginal epithelia and subsequently producing virus in a milieu that avoids the high microbicide concentrations of the vaginal lumen.
Findings
To address this problem, here, we report that pretreatment of HIV-infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with a 27 amino acid CD4-mimetic, M48U1, causes dramatic and prolonged reduction of infectious virus output, due to its induction of gp120 shedding.
Conclusions
M48U1 may, therefore, be valuable for prophylaxis of mucosal HIV-1 transmission.
