Small amino acid changes in the V3 hypervariable region of gp120 can affect the T-cell-line and macrophage tropism of human immunodeficiency virus type 1. (Periodical Report)

SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 15, 1992;89(20):9434-9438.

Mutations in only three to five amino acids in an extremely variable portion of the HIV-1 envelope determine whether a strain of the virus can infect T cells or macrophages, in vitro studies show.

Researchers Tatsuo Shioda, Jay A. Levy and Cecilia Cheng-Mayer of the University of California, San Francisco, have previously shown that overlapping regions in the third hypervariable domain (V3) within the HIV-1 gp120 envelope glycoprotein determine whether a virus is tropic for T cells or macrophages.

Shioda et al. explored the effects of …