Antiviral Activity of Dual-acting Hydrocarbon-stapled Peptides against HIV-1 Predominantly Circulating in China.

OBJECTIVE: New rationally designed i,i+7-hydrocarbon-stapled peptides that target both HIV-1 assembly and entry have been shown to have antiviral activity against HIV-1 subtypes circulating in Europe and North America. Here, we aimed to evaluate the antiviral activity of these peptides against HIV-1 subtypes predominantly circulating in China. METHODS: The antiviral activity of three i,i+7-hydrocarbon-stapled peptides, NYAD-36, NYAD-67, and NYAD-66, against primary HIV-1 CRF07_BC and CRF01_AE isolates was evaluated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The activity against the CRF07_BC and CRF01_AE Env-pseudotyped viruses was analyzed in TZM-bl cells. RESULTS: We found that all the stapled peptides were effective in inhibiting infection by all the primary HIV-1 isolates tested, with 50% inhibitory concentration toward viral replication (IC50) in the low micromolar range. NYAD-36 and NYAD-67 showed better antiviral activity than NYAD-66 did. We further evaluated the sensitivity of CRF01_AE and CRF07_BC Env-pseudotyped viruses to these stapled peptides in a single-cycle virus infectivity assay. As observed with the primary isolates, the IC50s were in the low micromolar range, and NYAD-66 was less effective than NYAD-36 and NYAD-67. CONCLUSION: Hydrocarbon-stapled peptides appear to have broad antiviral activity against the predominant HIV-1 viruses in China. This finding may provide the impetus to the rational design of peptides for future antiviral therapy.

Distinctive Drug-resistant Mutation Profiles and Interpretations of HIV-1 Proviral DNA Revealed by Deep Sequencing in Reverse Transcriptase.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate distinctive features in drug-resistant mutations (DRMs) and interpretations for reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs) between proviral DNA and paired viral RNA in HIV-1-infected patients. METHODS: Forty-three HIV-1-infected individuals receiving first-line antiretroviral therapy were recruited to participate in a multicenter AIDS Cohort Study in Anhui and Henan Provinces in China in 2004. Drug resistance genotyping was performed by bulk sequencing and deep sequencing on the plasma and whole blood of 77 samples, respectively. Drug-resistance interpretation was compared between viral RNA and paired proviral DNA. RESULTS: Compared with bulk sequencing, deep sequencing could detect more DRMs and samples with DRMs in both viral RNA and proviral DNA. The mutations M184I and M230I were more prevalent in proviral DNA than in viral RNA (Fisher's exact test, P<0.05). Considering 'majority resistant variants', 15 samples (19.48%) showed differences in drug resistance interpretation between viral RNA and proviral DNA, and 5 of these samples with different DRMs between proviral DNA and paired viral RNA showed a higher level of drug resistance to the first-line drugs. Considering 'minority resistant variants', 22 samples (28.57%) were associated with a higher level of drug resistance to the tested RTIs for proviral DNA when compared with paired viral RNA. CONCLUSION: Compared with viral RNA, the distinctive information of DRMs and drug resistance interpretations for proviral DNA could be obtained by deep sequencing, which could provide more detailed and precise information for drug resistance monitoring and the rational design of optimal antiretroviral therapy regimens.

[HIV-1 co-receptor usage of patients experienced anti-retroviral therapy].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate HIV-1 co-receptor usage in patients experienced anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in Anhui and Henan province of China. METHODS: A total of 45 HIV-1 infected individuals who have experienced ART and 109 un-experienced ART patients from Anhui and Henan province, which were called as treatment group and treatment-negative group, were selected as study subjects. HIV-1 strains were isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of whole blood from patients. HIV-1 p24 in the culture supernatant was measured using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. HIV-1 co-receptor usage was identified using Ghost cell lines expressing CD4 and the chemokine receptor CCR5 or CXCR4. RESULTS: Among 45 HIV strains from the treatment group, 22 (48.9%) strains used CCR5 as a co-receptor (R5 tropic strain), 21 (46.7%) strains used CXCR4/CCR5 as a co-receptor (X4/R5 duel tropic strain), and 2 (4.4%) used only CXCR4 as a co-receptor (X4 tropic strain). In 109 strains from treatment-negative group, 96 (88.1%) strains used CCR5 as a co-receptor (R5 tropic strain), 13 (11.9%) strains used CCR5/CXCR4 as a co-receptor use (X4/R5 strain). A significant difference was found between two groups in X4 co-receptor usages (χ(2) = 27.30, P < 0.05). Furthermore, after treated with AZT + DDI + NVP, the HIV-1 CXC4/CCR5 utilization was 59.09% (13/22), meanwhile after treated with D4T + DDI + NVP, the HIV-1 CXC4/CCR5 utilization was 43.48% (10/23), which the difference was not statistical significant (χ(2) = 1.10, P = 0.30). CONCLUSION: HIV-1 CXCR4/CCR5 co-receptor utilization was higher in ART patients than treatment-negative patients.

Study on the associations between inflammatory factor and insulin resistance as well as type 2 diabetes with macrovascular complications / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the possible association between C-reactive (CRP) and insulin resistance (IR) as well as the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes macrovascular complication.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Serum CRP was measured by ultrasensitive immuoturbidimetric, which was determined on type 2 diabetes (T2DM) with or without macrovascular complication (70 and 60 cases respectively) and on normal controls (90 cases). IR was estimated by homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Results showed that the concentration of CRP was higher in T2DM with or without macrovascular complications than that in the healthy subjects (P < 0.01), while it was higher in diabetic patients with macrovascular complications than that in diabetic patients without macrovascular complications (P < 0.01). In diabetic patients with macrovascular complications, person correlation analysis indicated that there existed positive correlations between CRP and FINS, HOMA-IR, triglyceride (TG) while stepwise linear regression showed that usCRP and HOMA-IR, TG having linear correlation.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>CRP seemed to play a role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes, possibly was by the way of IR.</p>