The diverse series of recombinant P2Y purinoceptors

P2X1 Receptor Antagonists Inhibit HIV-1 Fusion by Blocking Virus-Coreceptor Interactions

HIV-1 Env glycoprotein-mediated fusion is initiated upon sequential binding of Env to CD4 and the coreceptor CXCR4 or CCR5. Whereas these interactions are thought to be necessary and sufficient to promote HIV-1 fusion, other host factors can modulate this process. Previous studies reported potent inhibition of HIV-1 fusion by selective P2X1 receptor antagonists, including NF279, and suggested that these receptors play a role in HIV-1 entry. Here we investigated the mechanism of antiviral activity of NF279 and found that this compound does not inhibit HIV-1 fusion by preventing the activation of P2X1 channels but effectively blocks the binding of the virus to CXCR4 or CCR5. The notion of an off-target effect of NF279 on HIV-1 fusion is supported by the lack of detectable expression of P2X1 receptors in cells used in fusion experiments and by the fact that the addition of ATP or the enzymatic depletion of ATP in culture medium does not modulate viral fusion. Importantly, NF279 fails to inhibit HIV-1 fusion with cell lines and primary macrophages when added at an intermediate stage downstream of Env-CD4-coreceptor engagement. Conversely, in the presence of NF279, HIV-1 fusion is arrested downstream of CD4 binding but prior to coreceptor engagement. NF279 also antagonizes the signaling function of CCR5, CXCR4, and another chemokine receptor, as evidenced by the suppression of calcium responses elicited by specific ligands and by recombinant gp120. Collectively, our results demonstrate that NF279 is a dual HIV-1 coreceptor inhibitor that interferes with the functional engagement of CCR5 and CXCR4 by Env.

IMPORTANCE

Inhibition of P2X receptor activity suppresses HIV-1 fusion and replication, suggesting that P2X signaling is involved in HIV-1 entry. However, mechanistic experiments conducted in this study imply that P2X1 receptor is not expressed in target cells or involved in viral fusion. Instead, we found that inhibition of HIV-1 fusion by a specific P2X1 receptor antagonist, NF279, is due to the blocking of virus interactions with both the CXCR4 and CCR5 coreceptors. The ability of NF279 to abrogate cellular calcium signaling induced by the respective chemokines showed that this compound acts as a dual-coreceptor antagonist. P2X1 receptor antagonists could thus represent a new class of dual-coreceptor inhibitors with a structure and a mechanism of action that are distinct from those of known HIV-1 coreceptor antagonists.

Shift in purine/pyrimidine base recognition upon exchanging extracellular domains in P2Y 1/6 chimeric receptors

P2Y receptors are G protein-coupled receptors stimulated by extracellular nucleotides. Both the P2Y(1) and the P2Y(6) receptors are preferentially activated by nucleoside 5'-diphosphates, but favor different base moieties. In the case of the P2Y(1) receptor the preferred base is adenine, while the P2Y(6) receptor is activated by uracil nucleotides. To identify potential amino acid domains that interact with the base moiety, we used a chimeric receptor approach, employing the human P2Y(1) receptor as core structure to investigate the role in receptor activation of extracellular loops (ELs) and transmembrane domains (TMs) of the rat P2Y(6) receptor. The chimeric receptors were expressed in COS-7 cells and measured for stimulation of phospholipase C (PLC) induced by the potent P2Y(1) receptor agonist 2-MeSADP or the potent P2Y(6) receptor agonist UDP. Replacement of the N-terminus or EL2 resulted in low ( approximately 50 microM) potency of the agonist 2-MeSADP, thus confirming the importance of EL2 in ligand recognition. Upon replacement of several regions, the potency of the P2Y(1) agonist 2-MeSADP was either 1-2 microM (N-terminus and EL1, or EL1 and EL3) or 72 microM (N-terminus and EL3). Concurrent replacement of three regions (N-terminus, EL1, and EL3) completely precluded activation by 2-MeSADP. Our study identified domains of the P2Y(6) receptor that contribute to receptor activation by UDP and hence seem to be involved in uracil recognition. Upon replacement with extracellular domains of the P2Y(6) receptor sequence we observed a trend toward gain of receptor-induced PLC activation by UDP, for example, in the chimera containing replacements of both the N-terminus and EL1. Exchange of three receptor domains led to a construct with an EC(50) value for UDP of 19 microM and a maximal inositol phosphate accumulation similar to the native P2Y(6) receptor. Within receptor constructs of combined domain exchanges the additional substitution of Tyr(110) by the corresponding Asn from the P2Y(6) receptor showed a significant increase for activation by UDP, but only when combined with the N-terminal domain and TM1. The residue Tyr(110) was identified to play an important role in the recognition of the nucleobase in the P2Y(1) and P2Y(6) receptors.

Nucleotide receptors in the nervous system. An abundant component using diverse transduction mechanisms

Extracellular nucleotides achieve their role as cell-to-cell communicators by acting at cell surface transmembrane receptors-the P2 receptors. Before molecular cloning led to the isolation of any P2-receptor sequence, a small number of receptor types had been proposed on the basis of pharmacological evidence. The application of molecular biology to this field of receptor research has indicated that a great underestimation of the number of receptor subtypes and of their abundance had occurred. There are now known to be seven characterized P2Y (G protein linked) receptors and the same number again of P2X receptors of the transmitter-gated ion channel type. In this review, we discuss the properties of these cloned receptors, their distribution within the nervous system, and their methods of signal transduction.