It has been previously shown that the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein 120 (gp120) activates cell signaling by CXCR4, independently of CD4. The present study examines the involvement of different intracellular signaling pathways and their physiopathologic consequences following the CD4-independent interaction between CXCR4 or CCR5 and gp120 in different cell types: primary T cells, CD4 ؊ / CXCR4 ؉ /CCR5 ؉ T cells, or glioma cells. These interactions were compared with those obtained with natural ligands, stromal cell-derived factor 1 ␣ (SDF-1␣) (CXCL12) and macrophage inflammatory
IntroductionAIDS results from different actions induced by HIV on its wide variety of target cells. The CD4 molecule is the major receptor of HIV-1. 1 The high-affinity binding of CD4 to glycoprotein 120 (gp120) 2 induces conformational changes in gp120 to allow its further binding to secondary receptors, 3-5 which could result in a trimolecular complex, CD4-gp120-coreceptor. 6,7 HIV coreceptors belong to the chemokine receptor family (see Baggiolini et al 8 for review), among which CXCR4 and CCR5 are the major attachment coreceptors for T-tropic and M-tropic isolates of HIV-1, respectively. 9,10 The HIV envelope binding to target cells induces activation through receptors, 11,12 eliciting functional responses that are important in AIDS pathogenesis. Although the cell activation is induced by a CD4-transconformed gp120 through the coreceptor, 13-15 a CD4-independent activation occurs, 16,17 particularly in T cells and cells from the central nervous system (CNS). 18,19 Indeed, it has been reported that cell signaling is activated by either the X4-tropic or R5-tropic HIV-1 envelopes, leading to activation of such functional responses as proliferation, differentiation, chemotaxis, 13,16 proinflammatory cytokines secretion, or apoptosis. 20,21 Apoptosis or programmed cell death is one of the major physiopathologic mechanisms of AIDS. Cells continuously stimulated become sensitive to apoptosis. 22 Interactions between 23 or between tumor necrosis factor ␣ (TNF␣) and its receptor (TNFr), activation of caspases, and down-regulation of the proto-oncogene Bcl2 protein and interleukin-2 (IL2) are considered the major apoptotic events during HIV infection leading to destruction of T cells, 24 macrophages, dendritic cells, and neurons.In the CNS, another important factor contributing to the neurodegenerative process is the presence of extracellular proteases from the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) family. MMPs have been shown to degrade constituents of the extracellular matrix such as collagens, 25 favoring (1) The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. Therefore, and solely to indicate this fact, this article is hereby marked ''advertisement'' in accordance with 18 U.S.C. section 1734. For personal use only. on April 4, 2019. by guest www.bloodjournal.org From destruction of the extracellular matrix in vivo or in vitro. 27 The presence of MMP-9 was reported in cerebrospinal fluid of HIVinfected patients. 26,2...