Apolipoprotein (apo) E4 enhances HIV-1 cell entry in vitro, and the APOE epsilon4/epsilon4 genotype accelerates HIV disease progression.
Originally recognized for their role in lipoprotein metabolism and cardiovascular disease, apolipoprotein (apo) E isoforms (apoE2, apoE3, and apoE4) have also been implicated to play a key role in several biological processes not directly related to their lipid transport function. For example, apoE4 contributes significantly to neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease. However, the role of apoE in infectious diseases is less well defined. Here, by examining a large cohort of HIV(+) European and African American subjects, we found that the APOE epsilon4/epsilon4 genotype is associated with an accelerated disease course and especially progression to death compared with the APOE epsilon3/epsilon3 genotype. However, an association between the epsilon4/epsilon4 genotype and HIV-associated dementia (HAD), a neurological condition with clinicopathological features similar to Alzheimer's disease, was not detected. Consistent with the genotype-phenotype relationships observed, compared with recombinant apoE3, apoE4 enhanced HIV fusion/cell entry of both R5 and X4 HIV strains in vitro. These findings establish apoE as a determinant of HIV-AIDS pathogenesis and raise the possibility that current efforts to convert apoE4 to an "apoE3-like" molecule to treat Alzheimer's disease might also have clinical applicability in HIV disease.
Division of Experimental Medicine, Department of Medicine, and Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA.
Trevor D
TD
Burt
Brian K
BK
Agan
Vincent C
VC
Marconi
Weijing
W
He
Hemant
H
Kulkarni
Jeffrey E
JE
Mold
Marielle
M
Cavrois
Yadong
Y
Huang
Robert W
RW
Mahley
Matthew J
MJ
Dolan
Joseph M
JM
McCune
Sunil K
SK
Ahuja
D000483:Alleles; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4 / Q000235:genetics*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012307:Risk Factors; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D053327:Apolipoprotein E4