Modulation of surface transferrin receptors in lymphoid cells de novo infected with human immunodeficiency virus type-1

✍ Scribed by A. Savarino; L. Calosso; A. Piragino; C. Martini; L. Gennero; G. P. Pescarmona; A. Pugliese

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 142 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0263-6484
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0844(199903)17:1<47::aid-cbf810>3.0.co;2-v

✦ Synopsis

To investigate whether transferrin receptor (CD71) expression is aected by acute HIV-1 infection, three dierent lymphoid cell lines (MT-4, SUPT-1, H9) were infected with HIV-1 and tested for surface CD71 expression after dierent incubation periods depending on cell survival after infection. We found that expression of surface CD71 was lower in cells infected with HIV-1 than in uninfected controls: the timing and extent of this down-modulation depended apparently on the dierent susceptibility of the cell lines to HIV-1 infection and cytopathogenicity. Citrate, a molecule capable of chelating iron, dose-dependently prevented down-modulation of surface CD71 in HIV-1 infected cells as well as viral cytopathic eects. We conclude that (i) expression of surface transferrin receptors is down-modulated by acute HIV-1 infection in T lymphoid cells, that (ii) this cell phenotypic modulation is associated with the cytopathic eects of the virus, and that (iii) these phenomena are modulated by iron chelation. These results support the view that iron metabolism may be an important area for interaction between HIV-1 and human cells.