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Abstract
HIV-1 CRF07_BC is a B’ and C subtype recombinant emerging virus and many of its viral characteristics remain unclear. Galectin-3 (Gal3) is a β-galactose binding lectin that has been reported as a pattern recognition receptor (PRR) and is known to mediate adhesion between cells and microbes. This study aims to examine the viral characteristics of HIV-1 CRF07_BC virus and the role of extracellular galectin-3 in HIV-1 CRF07_BC infection. A total of 28 HIV-1+ injecting drug users (IDUs) were recruited and 24 (85.7%) were identified as HIV-1 CRF07_BC. Results indicate that significant higher serum galectin-3 was measured in CRF07_BC infected patients and CRF07_BC infection triggered significant galectin-3 expression (p < 0.01). Viral characteristics demonstrate that CRF07_BC virions display a higher level of envelope gp120 spikes. The virus infectivity assay demonstrated that co-treatment with galectin-3 significantly promoted CRF07_BC attachment and internalization (p < 0.01). A co-immunoprecipitation assay showed that pulldown galectin-3 co-precipitated both CD4 and gp120 proteins. Results from an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) indicate that the galectin-3 promoting effect occurs through enhancement of the interaction between gp120 and CD4. This study suggests that CRF07_BC was predominant in HIV-1+ IDUs and CRF07_BC utilized extracellular galectin-3 to enhance its infectivity via stabilization of the gp120-CD4 interaction.
Highlights
HIV-1 CRF07_BC is a Thai B (B’) and C recombinant virus that has previously caused outbreaks inChina and Taiwan [1,2]
We previously demonstrated that galectin-3 promoted HIV-1 budding via association with Alix and p6Gag [22]
We found that the interaction between CRF07_BC gp120 and CD4 would be significantly improved in presence of galectin-3 (p < 0.01) and higher galectin-3 co-treatment promoted greater gp120-CD4 interaction (Figure 5C)
Summary
HIV-1 CRF07_BC is a Thai B (B’) and C recombinant virus that has previously caused outbreaks inChina and Taiwan [1,2]. The CRF07_BC has a mosaic pattern in its genome with a clade C backbone inserted by several clade Thai B fragments in Gag, Pol, Env and accessory genes [1]. Pathogens 2020, 9, 425 that the different HIV-1 subtypes have different rates of disease progression. A previous study using meta-analysis demonstrated that the trend of disease progression among different HIV-1 subtype was subtype C > D > AE > G > A, in a descending order [3]. Patients infected with HIV-1 CRF07_BC have been reported to display slow immunological progression compared to the patients infected with subtype B [4,5]. The HIV-1 replication cycle, is initiated by attachment of virions to target cells
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