Document 1053
 DOCN  M94A1053
 TI    Correlation between genetic and biologic properties of African and
       European HIV-1 at the biological clone level.
 DT    9412
 AU    Zhong P; Peeters M; Janssens W; Fransen K; Heyndrickx L; Willems B; Piot
       P; van der Groen G; Institute of Tropical Medicine, Department Infection
       & Immunity,; Antwerpen, Belgium.
 SO    Int Conf AIDS. 1994 Aug 7-12;10(2):22 (abstract no. 382A). Unique
       Identifier : AIDSLINE ICA10/94371522
 AB    OBJECTIVE: To study the correlation between the V3-loop amino acid
       sequence and biological properties (syncytium-inducing capacity, cell
       tropism) as well as neutralizing antibody capacity of African and
       European HIV-1 strains at the biological clone level. METHODS: From 12
       HIV-1 strains (5 European and 7 African), thirty-eight biological clones
       were generated by the limiting-dilution culture technique. The
       syncytium-inducing capacity of all clones was measured in a MT-2
       cell-line. The V3 loop encoding region of biological clones was PCR
       amplified followed by direct sequencing. Thirty clones (13 SI and 17
       NSI) obtained from 8 virus strains were studied for cell-tropism on
       different cell lines (MT-2, Molt-4, CEM-SS, and U-937). The autologous
       sera of 8 patients were tested for the neutralizing antibodies against
       their biological clones. The clones were generated from HIV isolates
       taken at the same time, the sera were collected. RESULTS: 17/19 (6 of 17
       from Africa) SI phenotypic clones contained a positively charged amino
       acid at position 11 and/or 25 of the V3 loop, whereas 19/19 (8 of 19
       from Africa) of the NSI clones contained a negatively charged or
       uncharged amino acid at these positions (p < 0.001). The 2 SI clones
       with no positively charged amino acid at these positions were from 2
       african HIV-1 strains. Significantly more SI clones (13/13) than NSI
       clones (2/17) could replicate in MT-2, Molt-4 and CEM-SS cell lines (p <
       0.01). None of the clones could replicate in U-937. Only one of the
       eight patients had an autologous neutralizing antibody titer of 1/40
       that could only neutralize the NSI clone. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:
       This study found 1.) the confirmation of significant correlation between
       V3-loop amino acid sequence at position 11 and 25 and syncytium-inducing
       capacity. 2.) no significant difference between European and African
       clones for their SI/NSI capacities related to the amino acid charges in
       the V3 loop. 3.) a strong association of the cellular-host range of
       biological clones with syncytium-inducing capacity. 4.) a lack of
       relationship between the unique V3 loop sequence of SI/NSI clones and
       the capacity to be neutralized by their autologous sera.
 DE    Africa  Cell Line  Comparative Study  Cytopathogenic Effect,
       Viral/*GENETICS  Europe  Genes, env  Human  HIV Antibodies/IMMUNOLOGY
       HIV Envelope Protein gp120/*GENETICS  HIV
       Infections/IMMUNOLOGY/MICROBIOLOGY
       HIV-1/CLASSIFICATION/GENETICS/IMMUNOLOGY/*PHYSIOLOGY  Neutralization
       Tests  Peptide Fragments/*GENETICS  Polymerase Chain Reaction  Variation
       (Genetics)  MEETING ABSTRACT

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
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