Viral protein U （Vpu） is an accessory protein associated with two main functions important in human immu-nodeficiency virus type 1 （HIV-1） replication and dis-semination; these are down-regulation of CD4 receptor ...Viral protein U （Vpu） is an accessory protein associated with two main functions important in human immu-nodeficiency virus type 1 （HIV-1） replication and dis-semination; these are down-regulation of CD4 receptor through mediating its proteasomal degradation and en-hancement of virion release by antagonizing tetherin/BST2. It is also well established that Vpu is one of the most highly variable proteins in the HIV-1 proteome. However it is still unclear what drives Vpu sequence variability, whether Vpu acquires polymorphisms as a means of immune escape, functional advantage, or otherwise. It is assumed that the host-pathogen inter-action is a cause of polymorphic phenotype of Vpu and that the resulting functional heterogeneity of Vpu may have critical significance in vivo . In order to compre-hensively understand Vpu variability, it is important to integrate at the population level the genetic association approaches to identify specifc amino acid residues and the immune escape kinetics which may impose Vpu functional constraints in vivo . This review will focus on HIV-1 accessory protein Vpu in the context of its sequence variability at population level and also bring forward evidence on the role of the host immune re-sponses in driving Vpu sequence variability; we will also highlight the recent findings that illustrate Vpu func-tional implication in HIV-1 pathogenesis.展开更多
基金Supported by A Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education,Science,Sports,and Culture(MEXT)of JapanA Grant-in-Aid for AIDS Research from the Ministry of Health,Labor,and Welfare of Japan+1 种基金The Scholarship for the International Priority Graduate Programs,to Hasan Z and Kamori DAdvanced Graduate Courses for International Students(Doctoral Course),MEXT,Japan,to Hasan Z and Kamori D
文摘Viral protein U （Vpu） is an accessory protein associated with two main functions important in human immu-nodeficiency virus type 1 （HIV-1） replication and dis-semination; these are down-regulation of CD4 receptor through mediating its proteasomal degradation and en-hancement of virion release by antagonizing tetherin/BST2. It is also well established that Vpu is one of the most highly variable proteins in the HIV-1 proteome. However it is still unclear what drives Vpu sequence variability, whether Vpu acquires polymorphisms as a means of immune escape, functional advantage, or otherwise. It is assumed that the host-pathogen inter-action is a cause of polymorphic phenotype of Vpu and that the resulting functional heterogeneity of Vpu may have critical significance in vivo . In order to compre-hensively understand Vpu variability, it is important to integrate at the population level the genetic association approaches to identify specifc amino acid residues and the immune escape kinetics which may impose Vpu functional constraints in vivo . This review will focus on HIV-1 accessory protein Vpu in the context of its sequence variability at population level and also bring forward evidence on the role of the host immune re-sponses in driving Vpu sequence variability; we will also highlight the recent findings that illustrate Vpu func-tional implication in HIV-1 pathogenesis.
