Infection of macrophage lineage cells is a feature of primate lentivirus replication, and several properties of primate lentiviruses seem to have evolved to promote the infection of macrophages. Here we demonstrate that the accessory gene product Nef induces the production of two CC-chemokines, macrophage inflammatory proteins 1alpha and 1beta, by HIV-1-infected macrophages. Adenovirus-mediated expression of Nef in primary macrophages was sufficient for chemokine induction. Supernatants from Nef-expressing macrophages induced both the chemotaxis and activation of resting T lymphocytes, permitting productive HIV-1 infection. These results indicate a role for Nef in lymphocyte recruitment and activation at sites of virus replication.

After interaction of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) virions with cell surface receptors, a series of poorly characterized events results in establishment of a viral reverse transcription complex in the host cell cytoplasm. This process is coordinated in such a way that reverse transcription is initiated shortly after formation of the viral reverse transcription complex. However, the mechanism through which virus entry and initiation of reverse transcription are coordinated and how these events are compartmentalized in the infected cell are not known. In this study, we demonstrate that viral reverse transcription complexes associate rapidly with the host cell cytoskeleton during HIV-1 infection and that reverse transcription occurs almost entirely in the cytoskeletal compartment. Interruption of actin polymerization before virus infection reduced association of viral reverse transcription complexes with the cytoskeleton. In addition, efficient reverse transcription was dependent on intact actin microfilaments. The localization of reverse transcription to actin microfilaments was mediated by the interaction of a reverse transcription complex component (gag MA) with actin but not vimentin (intermediate filaments) or tubulin (microtubules). In addition, fusion, but not endocytosis-mediated HIV-1 infectivity, was impaired when actin depolymerizing agents were added to target cells before infection but not when added after infection. These results point to a previously unsuspected role for the host cell cytoskeleton in HIV-1 entry and suggest that components of the cytoskeleton promote establishment of the reverse transcription complex in the host cell and also the process of reverse transcription within this complex.

The vpr genes of human and simian immunodeficiency viruses (HIV/SIV) encode proteins which are packaged in the virus particle. HIV‐1 Vpr has been shown to mediate the nuclear import of viral reverse transcription complexes in non‐dividing target cells (e.g. terminally differentiated macrophages), and to alter the cell cycle and proliferation status of the infected host cell. Members of the HIV‐2/SIV(SM) group encode, in addition to Vpr, a related protein called Vpx. Because these two proteins share considerable sequence similarity, it has been assumed that they also exhibit similar functions. Here, we report that the functions of Vpr and Vpx are distinct and non‐redundant, although both proteins are components of the HIV‐2/SIV(SM) virion and reverse transcription complex. Characterizing SIV(SM) proviruses defective in one or both genes, we found that Vpx is both necessary and sufficient for the nuclear import of the viral reverse transcription complex. In contrast, Vpr, but not Vpx, inhibited the progression of infected host cells from the G2 to the M phase of the cell cycle. Thus, two independent functions of the HIV‐1 Vpr protein are encoded by separate genes in HIV‐2/SIV(SM). This segregation is consistent with the conservation of these genes in HIV‐2/SIV(SM) evolution, and underscores the importance of both nuclear transport and cell cycle arrest functions in primate lentivirus biology.

All primate lentiviruses (HIV-1, HIV-2, SIV) encode Nef proteins, which are important for viral replication and pathogenicity in vivo. It is not known how Nef regulates these processes. It has been suggested that Nef protects infected cells from apoptosis and recognition by cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Other studies suggest that Nef influences the activation state of the infected cell, thereby enhancing the ability of that cell to support viral replication. Here we show that macrophages that express Nef or are stimulated through the CD40 receptor release a paracrine factor that renders T lymphocytes permissive to HIV-1 infection. This activity requires the upregulation of B-cell receptors involved in the alternative pathway of T-lymphocyte stimulation. T lymphocytes stimulated through this pathway become susceptible to viral infection without progressing through the cell cycle. We identify two proteins, soluble CD23 and soluble ICAM, that are induced from macrophages by Nef and CD40L, and which mediate their effects on lymphocyte permissivity. Our results reveal a mechanism by which Nef expands the cellular reservoir of HIV-1 by permitting the infection of resting T lymphocytes.