一类关于HIV-1细胞到细胞传播的比率依赖时滞模型

研究了一类二维比率依赖模型,它描述了在组织培养皿未充分混合的情况下HIV 1的细胞到细胞的传播,并且假设感染是直接从感染细胞到健康细胞忽略了自由病毒的影响,本文研究了三类模型的稳定性:常微分方程模型的全局渐近稳定性,离散时滞微分方程模型的绝对稳定性及具有分布时滞的模型的Hopf分支.     

No T-cell tyrosine protein kinase signalling or calcium mobilization after CD4 association with HIV-1 or HIV-1 gp120.

The T lymphocyte surface protein CD4 is an integral membrane glycoprotein noncovalently associated with the tyrosine protein kinase p56lck. In normal T cells, surface association of CD4 molecules with other CD4 molecules or other T-cell surface proteins, such as the T-cell antigen receptor, stimulates the activity of the p56lck tyrosine kinase, resulting in the phosphorylation of various cellular proteins at tyrosine residues. Thus, the signal transduction in T cells generated through the surface engagement of CD4 is similar to that observed for the class of growth factor receptors possessing endogenous tyrosine kinase activity. As CD4 is also the cellular receptor for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), binding of the virus or gp120 (the virus surface protein responsible for specific CD4+ T-cell association) could mimic the types of immunological interactions that have previously been found to stimulate p56lck and trigger T-cell activation pathways. We have evaluated this possibility and report here that binding of HIV-1 or the virus glycoprotein gp120 to CD4+ human T cells fails to elicit detectable p56lck-dependent tyrosine kinase activation and signalling, alterations in the composition of cellular phosphotyrosine-containing proteins, or changes in intracellular Ca2+ concentration.     

The spread of HIV-1 in Africa: sexual contact patterns and the predicted demographic impact of AIDS

The spread of HIV-1 in Africa is examined here in the light of recent information on the main epidemiological and behavioural determinants of transmission. Mathematical models incorporating demographic, epidemiological and behavioural processes are used to assess the potential demographic impact of the disease AIDS. These analyses highlight the significance of patterns of sexual behaviour, and in particular networks of sexual contact, on the predicted spread of infection. Current data reveal substantial variations in the degree of spread between and in countries, but new analyses support earlier predictions that in the worst-afflicted areas AIDS is likely to change population growth rates from positive to negative values in a few decades.     

Immune control of HIV-1 after early treatment of acute infection

Virus-specific T-helper cells are considered critical for the control of chronic viral infections. Successful treatment of acute HIV-1 infection leads to augmentation of these responses, but whether this enhances immune control has not been determined. We administered one or two supervised treatment interruptions to eight subjects with treated acute infection, with the plan to restart therapy if viral load exceeded 5,000 copies of HIV-1 RNA per millilitre of plasma (the level at which therapy has been typically recommended) for three consecutive weeks, or 50,000 RNA copies per ml at one time. Here we show that, despite rebound in viraemia, all subjects were able to achieve at least a transient steady state off therapy with viral load below 5,000 RNA copies per ml. At present, five out of eight subjects remain off therapy with viral loads of less than 500 RNA copies per ml plasma after a median 6.5 months (range 5-8.7 months). We observed increased virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes and maintained T-helper-cell responses in all. Our data indicate that functional immune responses can be augmented in a chronic viral infection, and provide rationale for immunotherapy in HIV-1 infection.     

HIV-1 adaptation to NK-cell-mediated immune pressure

Natural killer (NK) cells have an important role in the control of viral infections, recognizing virally infected cells through a variety of activating and inhibitory receptors. Epidemiological and functional studies have recently suggested that NK cells can also contribute to the control of HIV-1 infection through recognition of virally infected cells by both activating and inhibitory killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs). However, it remains unknown whether NK cells can directly mediate antiviral immune pressure in vivo in humans. Here we describe KIR-associated amino-acid polymorphisms in the HIV-1 sequence of chronically infected individuals, on a population level. We show that these KIR-associated HIV-1 sequence polymorphisms can enhance the binding of inhibitory KIRs to HIV-1-infected CD4(+) T cells, and reduce the antiviral activity of KIR-positive NK cells. These data demonstrate that KIR-positive NK cells can place immunological pressure on HIV-1, and that the virus can evade such NK-cell-mediated immune pressure by selecting for sequence polymorphisms, as was previously described for virus-specific T cells and neutralizing antibodies. NK cells might therefore have a previously underappreciated role in contributing to viral evolution.     

Complete mutagenesis of the HIV-1 protease

Retroviruses encode a protease which needs to be active for the production of infectious virions. A disabling mutation in the protease results in the production of non-infectious virus particles and examination of proteins from these mutant virions reveals unprocessed Gag and Gag-Pol precursor proteins, the substrates of the viral protease. Each amino acid of the HIV-1 protease was individually mutated using a simple mutagenesis procedure which is capable of introducing and identifying missense mutations in each residue of a protein. Phenotypic screening of these mutants in a heterologous assay system reveals three regions within the protease where multiple consecutive amino-acid residues are sensitive to mutation. These results show that random mutagenesis can be used to identify functionally important regions within a protein. Mutants with conditional phenotypes have also been identified within this collection.     

Genetic organization of a chimpanzee lentivirus related to HIV-1

Simian immunodeficiency viruses have been isolated from four species of monkey, the 'captive' macaque and mangabey and the 'feral' African green monkey and mandrill. While none of these viruses is a replica of HIV-1, the macaque and mangabey viruses represent correct genetic models for HIV-2, possessing exactly the same complement of genes. Recently a lentivirus has been identified in two wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in Gabon, west equatorial Africa, and isolated from one of them. This virus is referred to as SIVCPZ. Sera from these animals cross reacted with all the HIV-1 proteins including the envelope glycoproteins. Here, we describe the molecular cloning and sequencing of an infectious proviral clone of SIVCPZ. The overall genetic organization was the same as that of HIV-1, but phylogenetic analysis revealed that the sequence was more divergent than any HIV-1 sequence reported so far. The vpu gene product, found only in the type 1 viruses, was particularly different (64% divergent to HIV-1BRU) suggesting that the SIVCPZ represents a distinct subtype. These findings indicate that there is a larger pool of simian lentiviruses than previously suspected and revives debate as to the origins of HIV-1.     

野生型及突变型HIV-1 LTR驱动的荧光素酶稳定表达细胞株的建立

HIV潜伏感染是造成抗病毒疗法无法根除病人体内病毒的主要原因.建立有效的药物筛选模型,是成功筛选高效、低毒性HIV潜伏激活剂的关键.本研究中,我们构建了野生型及κB和TAR顺式元件突变型HIV-1LTR驱动的荧光素酶表达载体,并通过质粒转染人胚肾293细胞,通过G418筛选,获得了稳定表达的细胞克隆.从每个克隆中抽提基因组DNA,进行PCR扩增和序列分析,结果显示:报告载体稳定整合在细胞基因组中.进一步通过TNF-α去处理这些细胞模型,结果显示:10ng/mL TNF-α可以有效地激活野生型LTR和ΔTARLTR细胞,对ΔκB LTR细胞中荧光素酶表达水平没有影响.激活效果还在同一细胞的不同细胞克隆中得到了重复验证.     

扩频技术在数字图像水印技术中的应用及分析

数字水印技术作为数字产品版权保护的一种新技术,已受到越来越多的关注.为了提高水印的安全性,把扩频技术应用到数字水印中,分析了扩频技术的原理及优点.最后通过实验证明,该方法对剪裁、JPEG压缩和噪声等图像退化处理均具有一定的抵抗力,是一种行之有效的水印嵌入方法.     

Challenges in the development of an HIV-1 vaccine

The development of a safe and effective human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 vaccine is a critically important global health priority. Despite recent advances in our understanding of HIV-1 pathogenesis and immunology, however, major scientific obstacles remain. Prototype HIV-1 vaccine candidates aimed at eliciting humoral and cellular immune responses have so far failed to protect against HIV-1 infection or to reduce viral loads after infection in clinical efficacy studies. A renewed and coordinated commitment to basic discovery research, preclinical studies and clinical trials will therefore be required to overcome the hurdles currently facing the field. Here I review key challenges and future prospects in the quest to develop a prophylactic HIV-1 vaccine.     

HIV-1 pol基因人工miRNA的构建和功能分析

以miR-155为基础骨架,根据HIV-1pol基因序列设计并合成4对miRNA寡聚单链DNA,构建4个人工miR-pol,并对其进行功能分析.qPCR结果显示,4个人工miR-pol对pol基因都具有一定的沉默效果,其中miR-pol-4的沉默效率最高,达76％.进一步的实验证实miR-pol-4不会影响被转染细胞的活性,也不会对细胞干扰素的表达产生影响.此外,HIV-1假病毒实验显示,miR-pol-4对HIV-1的复制具有良好的抑制作用.因此,所获得的miR-pol-4将可为进一步的抗HIV-1感染研究提供基础.     

HIV-1 Nef intersects the macrophage CD40L signalling pathway to promote resting-cell infection

All primate lentiviruses (HIV-1, HIV-2, SIV) encode Nef proteins, which are important for viral replication and pathogenicity in vivo. It is not known how Nef regulates these processes. It has been suggested that Nef protects infected cells from apoptosis and recognition by cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Other studies suggest that Nef influences the activation state of the infected cell, thereby enhancing the ability of that cell to support viral replication. Here we show that macrophages that express Nef or are stimulated through the CD40 receptor release a paracrine factor that renders T lymphocytes permissive to HIV-1 infection. This activity requires the upregulation of B-cell receptors involved in the alternative pathway of T-lymphocyte stimulation. T lymphocytes stimulated through this pathway become susceptible to viral infection without progressing through the cell cycle. We identify two proteins, soluble CD23 and soluble ICAM, that are induced from macrophages by Nef and CD40L, and which mediate their effects on lymphocyte permissivity. Our results reveal a mechanism by which Nef expands the cellular reservoir of HIV-1 by permitting the infection of resting T lymphocytes.     

Potential control of DNA self-assembly on gold electrode

The self-assembly monolayer (SAM) was prepared with 2-aminoethanethiol (AET) on the gold electrode.A new approach based on potential was first used to control DNA self-assembly covalently onto the SAM with the activation of 1-ethyl-3(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide (EDC) and N-hydroxysulfosuccinimide (NHS). The influence of potential on DNA self-assembly was investigated by means of cyclic voltammetry (CV), AC impedance, Auger electron spectrometry (AES) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The result proves that controlled potential can affect the course of DNA self-assembly. More negative potential can restrain the DNA self-assembly, while more positive potential can accelerate the DNA self-assembly, which is of great significance for the control of DNA self-assembly and will find wide application in the field of DNA-based devices.