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Biomedical subjects

J C Chermann

Publications and source records attributed to J C Chermann.

215 records · Page 12Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in primary cultured placental cells.

The role of placental cells in transplacental transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV 1) was investigated. Placental macrophages and trophoblasts, which together represent the main cell components of the placenta, were cultivated separately and then compared to foetal monocyte-derived macrophages for susceptibility to HIV 1 infection. Placental macrophages treated with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) were less easily infected with HIV 1 than were GM-CSF-treated foetal monocyte-derived macrophages. HIV 1 replication in cocultures consisting of infected placental macrophages together with a highly HIV 1-permissive cell line (CEM) was detected persistently for at least 6 weeks by reverse transcriptase assay, even though placental macrophages expressed no detectable CD4 receptor, as indicated by indirect immunofluorescence. HIV 1-specific DNA sequences were also detected in infected placental macrophages. Trophoblasts exhibited no detectable CD4 expression and did not support the replication of HIV 1, although low levels of HIV 1-specific DNA sequences could be detected in infected trophoblasts. Placental macrophages or trophoblasts (or both) may thus play an important role in transplacental HIV 1 transmission.

Base Sequence↗
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Synthesis and anti-HIV activity of alpha-thiophenoxy-hydroxyethylamide derivatives.

A series of new anti-HIV derivatives containing a novel alpha-thiophenoxyhydroxyethylamide core have been synthesized, using S-phenylbenzenethiosulfonate as the thiosulfenylating reagent. Some of the new synthesized compounds (1a, 1c, 1g, 1i, 1j and 1l) inhibited HIV replication in cell culture assays (syncytia formation) with effective concentrations (EC(50)) ranging from 0.1-1 microM. Incorporation of thiophenoxy substitution within various pseudomimetic peptide backbones provided a series of highly potent HIV inhibitors.

Alkanes↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Characterization of HIV1-PAR, a macrophage-tropic strain: cell tropism, virus/cell entry and nucleotide sequence of the envelope glycoprotein.

The HIV1-PAR strain, isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid of an HIV1-seropositive man suffering from encephalopathy, replicated well in cord blood lymphocytes, poorly in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and to different levels in blood-derived macrophage (BDM) cultures prepared from different blood donors. In marked contrast to its replication in primocultures, it did not grow in CEM and U937 cell lines. HIV1-PAR production in BDM was inhibited by more than 90% after treatment with OKT4A or 13B8.2 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) binding to adjacent epitopes of the D1 domain of the CD4 molecules. A lower but significant inhibitory effect was observed after BDM treatment with BL4 and OKT4 mAb, directed to the D2 and D3 domain of the CD4 molecule, respectively. The entire HIV1-PAR envelope glycoprotein gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequence of HIV1-PAR gp160 revealed the presence of 847 amino acids and 86% homology with the HIV1 LAV virus prototype. An alignment of the amino acid sequence of the envelope glycoprotein of HIV1-PAR and HIV1-LAV showed that the differences were mostly clustered within the five variable regions. Five CD4-binding domains, the gp120/gp41 cleavage site, the putative gp41 fusion domain and 21 out of the 22 cysteine residues were conserved in both isolates. The results further confirm the macrophage-tropic character of the HIV1-PAR virus.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Inhibition of HIV by an anti-HIV protease synthetic peptide blocks an early step of viral replication.

The processing of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) gag and gag-pol precursor proteins by the virus-encoded protease is an essential step in maturation of infectious virus particles. Like most retroviral proteases, the HIV protease belongs to the aspartyl-protease family and can be inhibited by specific inhibitors. Twenty-four synthetic peptides known to be inhibitors of human renin were tested for inhibition of HIV replication in tissue cultures. One of them, a synthetic peptide analogue, SR41476, which has been shown to be a specific inhibitor of purified recombinant HIV1 protease in vitro, totally blocked infection with different isolates including the HIV1 LAV prototype, the highly cytopathic Zairian isolate HIV1 NDK, and HIV2 ROD, both in primary blood lymphocytes (PBL) and in the lymphoid cell lines MT4 and CEM, for at least 3 weeks. It also significantly reduced virus replication in chronically infected CEM cells, without any effect on cell proliferation. Radioimmunoprecipitation assay revealed that the inhibitor blocked processing of polyprotein precursors p55 gag and p40 gag into a mature form of gag proteins, p25 and p18. Synthetic peptide analogue SR 41476, when added before infection, efficiently inhibited formation of HIV DNA provirus and successfully suppressed synthesis of HIV-specific proteins. These results imply that the HIV protease inhibitor not only inhibited virus maturation in the late phase of the HIV replication cycle, but also interfered in the early phase, before the provirus was formed. This mechanism of antiviral activity provides new possibilities and strategies for AIDS chemotherapy.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Apoptosis of CD4+ T cells induced after contact with HIV1-infected or non-infected macrophages.

The hallmark of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV1) infection is the relentless destruction of CD4+ T lymphocytes. Indirect cell killing mechanisms are thought to play an outstanding role in lymphocyte depletion. One such proposed mechanism is the induction of apoptosis through cross-linking of the CD4 receptor by anti-CD4 antibodies or by the HIV1 envelope protein expressed at the surface of infected cells. Here we provide evidence that apoptosis is triggered in CD4+ lymphoblastoid cells (MT4) following cocultivation with monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) productively infected with the monocytotropic isolate HIV1 PAR. Blocking virus replication by AZT abrogates apoptosis of MT4 cells. Infected MDMs do not transmit virus infection to target cells. DNA nucleosomal fragmentation occurs at 46-66 h after starting cocultures. It is inhibited by the addition of neutralizing anti-gp120 monoclonal antibody (mAb), implying that the gp120/CD4 interaction triggers the apoptotic process. Cocultivating with MDMs, either infected or not, in the presence of anti-CD4 mAb Leu-3a, also leads to MT4 cell death, with DNA fragmentation being detected at 24-40 h. Leu-3a induced apoptosis does not require cross-linking of CD4 by anti-immunoglobulin, showing that MDMs provide an alternative to conventional cross-linking. Both the infected and the non-infected MDMs were found to stimulate 3H-thymidine incorporation in cocultivated MT4 cells.

Apoptosis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Molecular cloning of lymphadenopathy-associated virus.

Lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV) is a human retrovirus first isolated from a homosexual patient with lymphadenopathy syndrome, frequently a prodrome or a benign form of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Other LAV isolates have subsequently been recovered from patients with AIDS or pre-AIDS and all available data are consistent with the virus being the causative agent of AIDS. The virus is propagated on activated T lymphocytes and has a tropism for the T-cell subset OKT4 (ref. 6), in which it induces a cytopathic effect. The major core protein of LAV is antigenically unrelated to other known retroviral antigens. LAV-like viruses have more recently been independently isolated from patients with AIDS and pre-AIDS. These viruses, called human T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma virus type III (HTLV-III) and AIDS-associated retrovirus (ARV), seem to have many characteristics in common with LAV and probably represent independent isolates of the LAV prototype. We have sought to characterize LAV by the molecular cloning of its genome. A cloned LAV complementary DNA was used to screen a library of recombinant phages constructed from the genomic DNA of LAV-infected T lymphocytes. Two families of clones were characterized which differ in a restriction site. The viral genome is longer than any other human retroviral genome (9.1-9.2 kilobases).

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
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Synthesis and biological evaluation of polyaminated 2',3'-dideoxy-3'-thiacytidine prodrugs.

The syntheses and biological evaluation of polyaminated 2',3'-dideoxy-3'-thiacytidine have been performed. A new lead was found to increase the in vitro antiviral potency (syncitia formation on MT-4 cell line) of two order magnitude greater than the parent nucleoside drug. Moreover, the in vitro activity on HIV macrophages was found to be more than 3 log greater than the activity of the parent drug 1.

Anti-HIV Agents↗
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Neutralizing antibodies in Brazilian sera against three strains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1).

The MN strain of HIV-1 is known to be more prevalent in Brazil, the BRU strain is more prevalent in Europe, and the NDK strain in Africa. It has been suggested in the literature to include different strains in the same vaccine against HIV-1. To contribute to the studies for the development of a universal vaccine, the occurrence of antibodies (Ab) against three HIV-1 strains (MN, BRU and NDK) was determined in serum samples from 85 HIV-1-positive patients, adult volunteers seen at the University Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto-USP. One-hundred tissue culture infective unit (TCIU) of the viruses reacted with serial dilutions of the sera (2x) and with MT4 cells added at a final concentration of 0.3 x 10(6) cells/ml, and a cytopathic effect was observed on the 7th and 11th days of incubation. Titres of less than 1/50 were considered to be negative. In 129 tests, the sera were negative for one of the three strains: 40 for MN, 29 for BRU and 60 for NDK. There was a predominance of strains MN and BRU, most of them presenting titres from 1/50 to 1/200. Titres for NDK were detected in 25 sera. We conclude that there seems to be a predominance of strains MN and BRU among the individuals from the region tested; however, the detection of sera with positive NKD titres indicates the need for further studies of this strain in other populations and regions of Brazil.

AIDS Vaccines↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Stimulation of bystander T-cell proliferation by tumor necrosis factor produced by HIV-1-infected macrophages.

OBJECTIVE: Cocultivation of the CD4+CD95+ T-cell line (MT4) with monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) infected with the HIV-1 resulted in costimulation of proliferation and apoptosis after 20 hours of contact. This study sought to determine whether tumor necrosis factor (TNF) produced by HIV-1-infected MDMs was involved in the costimulation of cell proliferation, the apoptotic pathway, or both. STUDY DESIGN/METHODS: MT4 cells were cocultivated with infected or noninfected MDMs in the presence or absence of soluble TNF receptors (sTNFRs) or antagonistic anti-Fas antibody (ZB4). Cell proliferation was assessed by measuring thymidine incorporation. Apoptosis was monitored by using flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: Thymidine incorporation was higher in cells cocultivated with HIV-infected or noninfected MDMs than it was in controls grown in culture medium. It also was higher in cells cocultivated with HIV-infected MDMs than it was in cells cocultivated with noninfected MDMs. sTNFRs blocked the increase of thymidine incorporation specifically induced by HIV-infected MDMs. They did not inhibit apoptosis at 20 hours. Cells recovered from cocultures involving HIV-infected or noninfected MDMs exhibited decreased sensitivity to apoptosis induced through the Fas receptor. CONCLUSION: TNF produced by HIV-infected MDMs acts as an accessory T-cell growth factor that synergizes with an as yet unidentified growth-inducing signal or signals produced by HIV-infected and noninfected MDMs. Stimulation of cell proliferation by MDMs induces transient resistance to Fas-induced apoptosis.

Apoptosis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Role of Kaposi's sarcoma cells in recruitment of circulating leukocytes: implications in pathogenesis.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to identify and characterize mechanisms of interaction between Kaposi's sarcoma cells and circulating leukocytes leading to leukocyte migration into the lesion. STUDY DESIGN/METHODS: By using static and dynamic adhesion models, we measured the ability of late-stage KSY1 cells to support adhesion and transmigration of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). RESULTS: We showed that resting as well as TNF-alpha- or PMA-activated KSY1 cells supported adhesion and transmigration of PBL with a higher efficiency compared with normal endothelial cells. The LFA1/ICAM1 pathway was totally involved in PBL adhesion to resting or TNF-alpha-activated KSY1 cells and partially responsible for adhesion to PMA-activated KSY1 cells. No inhibition of adhesion was observed by blockage of the VLA4 pathway. Under flow conditions, PBL/KSY1 cell interaction was totally dependent on L-selectin. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that KS cells mimic an endothelium-like structure by regulating extravasation of lymphocytes into lesions.

Cell Aggregation↗
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Replication of primate oncornavirus SSV-1 on MRC-5 human diploid cells.

MRC-5 human diploid cells infected with Simian Sarcoma Virus from woolly monkey (SSV-1) were not transformed but an efficient replication of non transforming SiLV was demonstrated. Increase of virus reverse transcriptase activity paralleled cell replication during successive passages. Preliminary results concerning the influence of viral infection on the life span and the karyotype of MRC-5 diploid cells will be reported and several implications of these findings discussed.

Cells, Cultured↗