Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2002, 3(10), 1058-1072; doi:10.3390/i3101058
Article

Functionally-Impaired HIV-1 Nef Alleles from a Mother-Child Transmission Pair

William W. Roth 1,* email, Mafhuz Khan 1 , Romas Geleziunas 5 , Harold G. Stringer Jr. 2 , Jalal A. Zuberi 3 , Warner C. Greene 4 , Michael Powell 1  and Vincent C. Bond 1
1 Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, 720 Westview Drive SW, Atlanta GA, USA 2 Department of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA 3 Depratment of Pediatrics, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA 4 Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, San Francisco, CA, USA 5 Present address: Dupont Pharmaceuticals Company, Experimental Station E400/6220D, P.O. Box 80400, Wilmington DE, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 7 June 2002 / Accepted: 31 October 2002 / Published: 31 October 2002
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Environmental Health Research: Health Disparities, Toxicology and Carcinogenesis. Part II)
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Abstract: Unusual HIV-1 nef alleles were isolated from a woman and her vertically infected child. Both patients eventually progressed to develop AIDS. The child died at age 6.5 years, while the mother is currently alive, 13 years since her diagnosis with HIV-1. Predicted amino acid sequences of both mother and child Nefs diverged from the HIV-1 clade B consensus. In particular, they exhibited two separate 5-amino acid deletions bracketing a Cterminal dileucine regulatory motif and Trp-Gly mutations at the site for cleavage by the HIV-1 protease. The child’s Nef showed a modest ability to enhance HIV-1 infectivity in MAGI cells, whereas the mother’s Nef did not alter HIV-1 infectivity in the assay. Both Nefs were partially functional for CD4 down-regulation. The child’s Nef was fully functional for MHC-1 down-regulation, while the maternal Nef was non-functional. To our knowledge this study is the first to describe a functional divergence between Nef alleles in a case of mother-to-child HIV-1 transmission.
Keywords: HIV-1; Nef; in vitro; CD4; MHC; infectivity

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Roth, W.W.; Khan, M.; Geleziunas, R.; Stringer, H.G., Jr.; Zuberi, J.A.; Greene, W.C.; Powell, M.; Bond, V.C. Functionally-Impaired HIV-1 Nef Alleles from a Mother-Child Transmission Pair. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2002, 3, 1058-1072.

AMA Style

Roth WW, Khan M, Geleziunas R, Stringer HG, Jr, Zuberi JA, Greene WC, Powell M, Bond VC. Functionally-Impaired HIV-1 Nef Alleles from a Mother-Child Transmission Pair. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2002; 3(10):1058-1072.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Roth, William W.; Khan, Mafhuz; Geleziunas, Romas; Stringer, Harold G., Jr.; Zuberi, Jalal A.; Greene, Warner C.; Powell, Michael; Bond, Vincent C. 2002. "Functionally-Impaired HIV-1 Nef Alleles from a Mother-Child Transmission Pair." Int. J. Mol. Sci. 3, no. 10: 1058-1072.

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