Soluble gC1q-R/p33, a cell protein that binds to the globular "heads" of C1q, effectively inhibits the growth of HIV-1 strains in cell cultures

C1q and the outer envelope protein of HIV, gp120, have several structural and functional similarities. Therefore, it is plausible to assume that proteins that are able to interact with C1q may also interact with isolated gp120 as well as the whole HIV-1 virus. Based on this hypothesis, we studied the potential ability of the recombinant form of the 33-kDa protein, which binds to the globular "heads" of C1q (gC1q-R/p33), to inhibit the growth of different HIV-1 strains in cell cultures. gC1q-R/p33 was found to effectively and dose-dependently inhibit the production of one T-lymphotropic (X4) and one macrophage-tropic (R5) strain in human T cell lines (MT-4 and H9) and human monocyte-derived macrophage cultures, respectively. At a concentration range of 5-25 microg/ml, gC1q-R caused a marked and prolonged suppression of virus production. The extent of inhibition was enhanced when gC1q-R was first incubated with and then removed from the target cell cultures before virus infection, compared to that when the cells were infected with gC1q-R-HIV mixtures. The extent of inhibition was comparable to that of the Leu3a anti-CD4 antibody. Addition of gC1q-R to the cell cultures on day 1 or 2 after infection induced markedly less inhibition of HIV-1 growth than pretreatment of the cells just before or together with the infective HIV strains. In ELISA experiments, gC1q-R did not bind to a solid-phase recombinant gp120 while strong and dose-dependent binding of gC1q-R to solid-phase CD4 was observed. Our present findings indicate that gC1q-R is an effective inhibitor of HIV-1 infection, which prevents viral entry by blocking the interaction between CD4 and gp120. Since gC1q-R is a human protein, it is most probably not antigenic in humans. It would seem logical, therefore, to consider gC1q-R or its fragments involved in the CD4 binding as potential therapeutic agents.

Collaboration of TCR-, CD4- and CD28-mediated signalling in antigen-specific MHC class II-restricted T-cells

A previously developed experimental system was applied to obtain qualitative and quantitative data on the contribution of TCR-, CD4- and CD28-mediated signalling in the activation of an antigen specific T-cell hybridoma. All the three signal transducing receptors were stimulated by their natural ligands, and intermediate and late responses of an I-Ed restricted, CD4 +, influenza HA specific murine T-hybridoma (IP-12-7) were monitored by measuring the concentration of intracellular calcium [Ca2+]i and secreted IL-2. This type of analysis of T-cell activation revealed: (i) calcium mobilization induced by peptide loaded APC requires rapid conjugate formation; (ii) a direct correlation between the magnitude of the intermediate and the late responses was observed as a consequence of differential TCR ligation modulated by peptide dose or by the presence CD4; (iii) considering the APC/peptide and T/APC ratios, the concentration dependence of the intermediate and late responses was similar in both assays but a substantial difference in the sensitivity of the two methods was observed; (iv) CD4 mediated signalling has a co-stimulatory effect predominantly at suboptimal in vitro conditions; and (v) sustained increase of [Ca2+]i as well as the production of high concentrations of IL-2 is highly dependent on the CD28-B7 interaction. These results demonstrate that distinct peptide doses and the presence or absence of CD4 result in quantitative changes in T-cell responses, while the degree of CD28 mediated signalling has a qualitative affect on the outcome of T-cell activation, revealed by complete or partial inhibition of IL-2 secretion as a result of limited CD28-B7 interaction as well as by alteration in the duration and time kinetics of the calcium response.