Virion infectivity factor（Vif） is one of the six accessory proteins of HIV-1 and is necessary for viral infectivity. Human Apolipoprotein B editing complex protein 3G（h-APOBEC3G） is a cytidine deaminase only expressed in ＂nonpermissive＂ cells and exhibits virus suppressive activity. With the aid of a Cullin-5 E3 ligase, Vif induces h-APOBEC3G degradation and with the destruction of this ligase, Vif is functionally inactive. Therefore, it is expected that blocking this E3 pathway would be a new therapeutic strategy against HIV-1 infection. In this article, the authors＇ took sequence alignment of the N-termini of Cullin-5 and three other members of the Cullin protein family, respectively. A set of small peptides has been synthesized based on the sequence comparison results and possible Vif-Cullin-5 interaction domains. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that several peptides can reduce virus infectivity in ＂nonpermissive＂ cells with a dose-responsive manner, but not in ＂permissive＂ cells. The results also indicate that the loss of viral infectivity may be because of the increase of APOBEC3G amount in the peptide-treated cells. It is concluded that peptides derived from Cullin-5 can block the APOBEC3G degradation induced by Vif and suppress HIV-1 infectivity. Therefore this study starts a novel strategy for the development of a new HIV-1 inhibitor.
ZHU Ke-tong ZHANG Xi-zhen LOU Chao-ping GUO Bo DU Juan WANG Xiao-dan WU Yong-ge KONG Wei YU Xiang-hui
