Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Oct 15;177(8):5129-37.
doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.177.8.5129.

Tetraspanins CD9 and CD81 modulate HIV-1-induced membrane fusion

Mónica Gordón-Alonso  1 , María Yañez-Mó, Olga Barreiro, Susana Alvarez, M Angeles Muñoz-Fernández, Agustín Valenzuela-Fernández, Francisco Sánchez-Madrid
Affiliations

Tetraspanins CD9 and CD81 modulate HIV-1-induced membrane fusion

Mónica Gordón-Alonso et al. J Immunol. .

Abstract

Protein organization on the membrane of target cells may modulate HIV-1 transmission. Since the tetraspanin CD81 is associated to CD4, the receptor of HIV-1 envelope protein (Env; gp120/gp41), we have explored the possibility that this molecule may modulate the initial steps of HIV-1 infection. On the other hand, CD81 belongs to the tetraspanin family, which has been described as organizers of protein microdomains on the plasma membrane. Therefore, the role of CD81 and other related tetraspanin, CD9, on the cell-to-cell fusion process mediated by HIV-1 was studied. We found that anti-tetraspanin Abs enhanced the syncytia formation induced by HIV-1 envelope proteins and viral entry in human T lymphoblasts. In addition, anti-CD81 Abs triggered its clustering in patches, where CD4 and CXCR4 were included. Moreover, the knocking down of CD81 and CD9 expression resulted in an increase in syncytia formation and viral entry. Accordingly, overexpression of CD81 and CD9 rendered cells less susceptible to Env-mediated syncytia formation. These data indicate that CD9 and CD81 have an important role in membrane fusion induced by HIV-1 envelope.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources