RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TROPISM, INFECTIVITY, AND NEUTRALIZATION IN HIV

我们正在试图理解为什么某些艾滋病毒分离株进入并感染一些 细胞类型，而不是其他类型。例如，一些HIV分离株能够 感染初级T细胞，而其他人能够感染两个初级T细胞 细胞和巨噬细胞；一些分离物具有诱导 形成大的多核细胞(合胞体)，而其他细胞则不能。 此外，我们还发现某些病毒可以改变它们的生物学特性 组织培养中传代的特征，以及 允许这种情况发生的是在HIV包膜中，参与 病毒的初始结合和吸收。因此，理解的一部分 人类免疫缺陷病毒嗜性的研究包括了解 病毒的结合和吸收。因为绑定和条目并不是全部 关于病毒嗜性的故事，我们正在研究嗜性的决定因素 病毒基因组的其他区域。 我们的工作包括使用化验来测量病毒生长、病毒数量和 病毒中和。熟悉这些分析和方法的人是 对FDA审查过程很重要，在该过程中，此类检测用于 确定针对艾滋病毒的疫苗的效力。

We are trying to understand why certain HIV isolates enter and infect some cell types but not others. For example, some HIV isolates are able to infect primary T cells, while others are able to infect both primary T cells and macrophages; some isolates have the capacity to induce the formation of large multinuclear cells (syncytia) while others cannot. Furthermore, we have found that certain viruses can alter their biological characteristics by passage in tissue culture, and the genetic changes that permit this to occur are in the HIV envelope, the protein involved in the initial binding and uptake of the virus. Thus, part of the understanding of HIV tropism involves understanding the biochemical events involved in virus binding and uptake. Because binding and entry is not the whole story of viral tropism, we are investigating determinants of tropism in other regions of the viral genome. Our work involves using assays to measure virus growth, virus amounts, and virus neutralization. A familiarity with these assays and methods is important to the FDA review process, where such assays are used to ascertain the efficacy of vaccines against HIV.