Regular Article

Introduction: HIV co-receptors solve old questions and raise many new ones

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) envelope glycoprotein forms trimers on the virion surface, with each monomer consisting of two subunits, gp120 and gp41. The gp120 envelope component binds to CD4 on target cells and undergoes conformational changes that allow gp120 to interact with certain G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) on the same target membranes. The GPCRs that function as HIV coreceptors were found to be chemokine receptors. The primary coreceptors are CCR5 and CXCR4, but several other chemokine receptors were identified as “minor coreceptors”, indicating their ability support entry of some HIV strains in tissue cultures. Formation of the tri-molecular complexes stabilizes virus binding and triggers a series of conformational changes in gp41 that facilitate membrane fusion and viral cell entry. Concerted efforts are underway to decipher the specific interactions between gp120/CD4, gp120/coreceptors, and their contributions to the subsequent membrane fusion process. It is hoped that some of the transient conformational intermediates in gp120 and gp41 would serve as targets for entry inhibitors. In addition, the CD4 and coreceptors are primary targets for several classes of inhibitors currently under testing. Our review summarizes the current knowledge on the interactions of HIV gp120 with its receptor and coreceptors, and the important properties of the chemokine receptors and their regulation in primary target cells. We also summarize the classes of coreceptor inhibitors under development.