New Findings on Transcription Regulation Across Different HIV-1 Subtypes
Eva Ramírez de Arellano 1, Vicente Soriano 2, José Alcamí 3, África Holguín 1
1 NULL; 2 UNIR Health Sciences School and Medical Center, Madrid, Spain; 3 AIDS Immunopathogenesis Unit, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid; HIV Unit, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, IDIBAPS, Barcelona; CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid. Spain
*Correspondence: África Holguín, Email not available
Abstract
Transcriptional activation of gene expression in HIV-1 is controlled by the interaction of sequencespecifictranscription factors with the long terminal repeat (LTR) of the provirus. The identificationand characterization of cellular proteins involved in the process has provided a basic understandingabout both general eukaryotic and HIV-1 proviral transcription regulation. The HIV-1 epidemic is expandingworldwide with an increasing number of distinct viral subtypes as well as intersubtype recombinantviruses. LTR-specific sequence variability among different HIV-1 variants could affect LTRbinding to cellular and/or viral factors, influencing the extent of transcription. In vitro assays havedemonstrated subtype-specific functional differences between the LTR regions of distinct HIV-1subtypes. This observation could have consequences on the biology of the different HIV-1 cladesand influence HIV-1 disease progression. Finally, the knowledge of the molecular mechanisms oftranscription regulation events could help in the search for new compounds targeting the criticalsteps of viral transcription.
