Research
Involvement of claudin-7 in HIV infection of CD4(-) cells
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* Corresponding author: Shen Pang shenp@dent.ucla.edu
1 UCLA School of Dentistry, UCLA Dental Institute, and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, 10833 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
2 Departments of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology, and UCLA AIDS Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 10833 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
3 Department of Medicine, Div. of Infectious Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 10833 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
4 Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research, 9201 Sunset Blvd., Suite 300, West Hollywood, CA90069, USA
Retrovirology 2005, 2:79 doi:10.1186/1742-4690-2-79
Published: 20 December 2005Abstract
Background
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection of CD4(-) cells has been demonstrated, and this may be an important mechanism for HIV transmission.
Results
We demonstrated that a membrane protein, claudin-7 (CLDN-7), is involved in HIV infection of CD4(-) cells. A significant increase in HIV susceptibility (2- to 100-fold) was demonstrated when CLDN-7 was transfected into a CD4(-) cell line, 293T. In addition, antibodies against CLDN-7 significantly decreased HIV infection of CD4(-) cells. Furthermore, HIV virions expressing CLDN-7 on their envelopes had a much higher infectivity for 293T CD4(-) cells than the parental HIV with no CLDN-7. RT-PCR results demonstrated that CLDN-7 is expressed in both macrophages and stimulated peripheral blood leukocytes, suggesting that most HIV virions generated in infected individuals have CLDN-7 on their envelopes. We also found that CLDN-7 is highly expressed in urogenital and gastrointestinal tissues.
Conclusion
Together these results suggest that CLDN-7 may play an important role in HIV infection of CD4(-) cells.