Investigation of the defensive mechanisms of HIV-1 Vpu against the antiviral host factor BST-2

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HIV-1 Vpu enhances virion production by downregulating the antiviral host factor BST-2 from the cell surface. In this study, we attempted to identify host cofactors that play a supporting role in the anti-BST-2 activity of Vpu. We first prepared Vpu-binding proteins by performing immunoprecipitation assay, and identified multiple candidate proteins by proteome analyses. The candidate proteins were cloned into expression plasmids and then co-expressed with Vpu, followed by immunoprecipitation and subcellular localization assays. Knocking-down the gene expression of the candidate proteins that proved to interact with and colocalize with Vpu revealed no effect on Vpu’s anti-BST-2 activity, implying that those proteins might be involved in other functions of Vpu.