title: Changes in the SU can modulate the susceptibility of feline immunodeficiency virus to TM-derived entry inhibitors.
abstract: Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) provides a valuable animal model by which criteria for the development of HIV-1 inhibitors can be explored. Previous studies had shown that a synthetic 8-mer peptide modeled on the tryptophan-rich motif of the ectodomain of the viral transmembrane glycoprotein (TM) is a potent inhibitor of FIV The observation that inhibition efficiency varied somewhat depending on FV strain prompted the present study in which we investigated whether changes in the surface (SU) glycoprotein can affect virus susceptibility to TM-derived peptide inhibitors. This was done by examining how effectively selected entry inhibitors blocked the infectivity of well characterized variants and molecular clones of the prototype isolate of FIV The results have shown that substitutions in the SU can indeed modulate virus susceptibility to TM-derived entry inhibitors. Interestingly, we also observed a parallelism between reduced susceptibility to entry inhibitors and broad resistance to antibody-mediated neutralization.
authors.affiliation: Retrovirus Center and Virology Section, Department of Experimental Pathology, University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giannecchini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pistello
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Del Santo
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rovero
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sichi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bendinelli
mesh_terms: D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D002460:Cell Line; D024882:Drug Resistance, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D023581:HIV Fusion Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016089:Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D009154:Mutation; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D010455:Peptides / Q000494:pharmacology; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D023581:HIV Fusion Inhibitors; D010455:Peptides; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins