Retroviral infection of non-dividing cells: old and new perspectives.
The dependence of retroviral replication on cell proliferation was described as early as 1958, although different classes of retroviruses are able to infect non-dividing cells with different efficiencies. For example, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other lentiviruses infect most non-dividing cells nearly as well as dividing cells, while the gammaretroviruses such as the murine leukemia virus (MLV) cannot infect non-dividing cells, and other retroviruses have intermediate phenotypes. One exception to the ability of HIV to infect non-dividing cells involves resting CD4+ T cells in vitro where there are multiple restrictions. However, recent data show that there is massive infection of non-activated CD4+ T cell during acute infection which suggests that the situation is different in vivo. Finally, much work trying to explain the difference between HIV and MLV in non-dividing cells has focused on describing the ability of HIV to enter the nucleus during interphase. However, we suggest that events in the viral life-cycle other than nuclear import may be more important in determining the ability of a given retrovirus to infect non-dividing cells.
Yamashita
Masahiro
M
Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N, Seattle, WA 98109-1024, USA.
Emerman
Michael
M
D021581:Active Transport, Cell Nucleus; D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000821:virology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology