HIV-1 fusion is blocked through binding of GB Virus C E2-derived peptides to the HIV-1 gp41 disulfide loop [corrected].

ABSTRACT: A strategy for antiviral drug discovery is the elucidation and imitation of viral interference mechanisms. HIV-1 patients benefit from a coinfection with GB Virus C (GBV-C), since HIV-positive individuals with long-term GBV-C viraemia show better survival rates than HIV-1 patients without persisting GBV-C. A direct influence of GBV-C on HIV-1 replication has been shown in coinfection experiments. GBV-C is a human non-pathogenic member of the flaviviridae family that can replicate in T and B cells. Therefore, GBV-C shares partly the same ecological niche with HIV-1. In earlier work we have demonstrated that recombinant glycoprotein E2 of GBV-C and peptides derived from the E2 N-terminus interfere with HIV entry. In this study we investigated the underlying mechanism. Performing a virus-cell

SUBMITTER: Eissmann K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3551756 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature