Retroviruses Flashcards
Retroviruses
HIV
HTLV-1
Gene Therapy
XMRV (not really studied)
HIV causes aids, one of th emost important infectious diseases in the world
HTLV-1 (human T cell leukemia virus type 1), causes an adult T cell leukemia, rare in the US
Gene Therapy
- ability to integrate, retroviruses are sometimes used as gene therapy vectors to stably introduce genes into human cells
XMRV- link between this and chronic fatigue syndrome and prostate cancer but this virus was a lab contaminant so ignore this
Part 1: Retrovirus Basics
Enveloped virus
Spread by body fluids
Single enveloped spike protein (Env) RNA genome (single virally encoded glycoprotein called envelop protruding from the viral membrane)
Positive sense RNA
Two copies per virion
Lentivirus - type of virus that can infect non dividing cells, has 6 additional genes that control viral gene expression or subvert the host immune response (in addition to gag, pol and env)
- have to get into nucleus and most simple retroviruses cant get into nucleus until it breaks down during replication/ division but a lentivirus can
Schematic of a retroviral genome and proteins involved
LRT (U3 R U5) — gag — pol — env — LTR (U3 R U)
Gag: Group specific Antigen - polyprotein that is processed by viral protease to make the viral matrix and capsid proteins that surround the genome
- large protein cleaved by protease to produce proteins that form the nucleocapsid
Pol: polyprotein that contains the enzymes reverse transcriptase (RT) integrase and protease
- polymerase, produces a polyprotein that contains the three enzymes made by retrovirus: protease integrase and RT
Env: makes the envelope protein that protrude from the viral membrane
LTR: long terminal repeats - repeated sequences at the end of the 10 kB genome that help the virus replicate, play a role in replication and in gene expression
What makes Retroviruses Unique
Feature 1
Why is this important?
Retroviruses can make DNA out of RNA
Single Stranded RNA viral genome—> Viral reverse transcriptase enzyme (RT) —> double stranded DNA copy
Important bc
- RT is a drug target
- RT makes mistakes—> high error rate gives rise to drug resistance (because it has no proof reading ability) —> HIV can quickly evolve and adapt to selective pressures from antiviral drugs or immune system
What makes retroviruses unique?
Feature 2
Why does it matter
Retroviruses integrate their DNA into the host chromosome
Viral DNA + host cell DNA—> integrated viral DNA (via viral integrase enzyme)
- covalent insertion of the virus’s double stranded genome into the host genome via integrase
Important bc
- Integrase is a drug target
- Once integrated the viral dna becomes a permanent part of the cell, it can only be eradicated by killing the cell which makes HIV a life long infection and good for gene therapy
- cannot clear the virus infection from a cell without killing the cell, retrovirus infections persist for the life of the organism
First integrase inhibitor was Raltegavir
How are retroviruses used clinically
As gene therapy vectors
Integration results in stable expression of the transgene but integration can also lead to tumor formation
Eg 11 male infants with SCID
- bone marrow cells collected infected with mouse retrovirus expresses gene for IL2 receptor—> give cells back to patient —> SCID was cured but they developed leukemia
- murine retrovirus liked to integrate into transcriptional start sites and in 4 pt it activated expression of a gene linked to leukemia
Where does HIV preferentially integrate?
At active genes, but not at transcriptional start sites
- integration sites cluster around gene rich regions
- chromosome 13 and 18 which are gene poor have few integrateion events while gene-rich chromosomes have many integrations bc HIV likes to integrate within active genes not start sites (also makes it safer to use for gene therapy than simple retroviruses)
How has gene therapy changed to reduce risks associated with integration
Retroviruses—> lentiviruses (can integrate into non-dividing cells )
Eg CAR-T therapy
- genetically modified HIV expressing Chimeric Antigen Receptor in T cells
- HIV integrated and CAR expressed, enabling T cells to bind to cells expressing protein CD19 (B cells) and kill them (have body kill Emily’s ALL)
Because lentiviruses have a lower prob to interfere with expression of genes involved in cellular transformation, they are being used in gene therapy trials
Transfection
Introduction of any DNA or RNA into cells by a method other than using a virus
Transduction
Delivery of a cellular gene to a new cell by using a virus
What is the enzyme other than RT and integrase that Retroviruses use
Why is it important?
Protease!!!
Important bc it is an important drug target (protease inhibitors)
GAG/POL polyprotein
GAG— Integrase— RT— Protease
Protease is part of a large polypeptide, protease cleaves the polypeptide into many component parts, including RT, integrase, and viral core proteins and when this occurs the virus ‘immatures’
- if this does not occur, the virus cannot productively infect cells
- some of HIVs proteins are made as a large polyprotein, part of this has protease function and after synthesis protease cleaves polyprotein into its various subunits—> produce many proteins from the single precursor
Basic Retrovirus Lifecycle: Where do the 3 viral enzymes act
HIV is a lentivirus, a type of retrovirus that can infect non-dividing cells. Other retroviruses only infect dividing cells
Basic retrovirus lifecycle
Receptor binding
- receptor for HIV is CD4 protein—> viral Env protein then mediates membrane fusion with the host cell—> viral core is now in the cell - it must ‘uncoat’ and reverse transcription begins and is completed in the cytoplasm
- Viral DNA enters the nucleus due to nuclear localization signals on several of its associated proteins, integrates and then is transcribed
- since there is but a single promoter but multiple genes, RNA splicing events occur to make the needed mRNAs
- MRNAs exported from the nucleus and proteins made in the usual way—> virus assembles and buds at the plasma membrane and then the virus matures due to the action of the protease
Steps:
- Receptor binding
- Membrane fusion and entry
- Uncoating and reverse transcription - TARGETTED BY REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE
- Nuclear Uptake
- Integration in nucleus - TARGETTED BY INTEGRASE
- Transcription
- RNA processing
- Nuclear export
- Translation
- Assembly
- Budding
- Maturation - TARGETED BY PROTEASE
HIV epidemiology and definition of AIDS
GIEMSA STAIN slide 13
Pneumocystis pneumonia was rare until 1979 when 5 cases were found in LA
Over next year additional cases of this rare pneumonia were observed, patients all young, gay men
With giemsa stain at high magnification, the faint bluish dot like intracystic bodies of pneumocystis caring in lung are seen in this cytology preparation from a bronchoalveolar lovage
HIV and AIds
- infectious agent Kaposi’s sarcoma
Pic page 14
Before AIDS< kaposi’s sarcoma found in elderly Jewish men and immunocompromised, rare here
But cluster in SF and NY - young gay men
Morbidity and Mortality weekly report- summer of 1981
First description of AIDS, pneumocystis pneumonia and kaposi’s causes
AIDS described December 1981
By end of 1981 syndrome described- acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, 234 had died in US
HIV discovered, 1983
Cultured in vitro in 1984–> tests to screen blood but many ppl became infected with HIV following blood transfusions eg hemophiliacs screwed
2304 Americans died of aids in 1984
Definition of AIDS
HIV infected persons with CD4 < 200
HIV infected and have had an AIDS defining illness (opportunistic infection)
AIDS doesnt equate to HIV
- once a pt is diagnosed with AIDS they maintain this diagnosis even if CD4 counts increase above 200 due to effective therapy
HIV in US
45000 new HIV infx in US and 20,000 deaths due to aids per year—> total number of people in US HIV infected increasing —> 1.2 mill living with HIV in the US, 1/8 dont know they are infected
Important modes of HIV transmission
IV drug abuse (IVDA)
MSM
What parts ot eh country and sub pops have high HIV prevalence rates?
MSM = 70% new infx
African descent - nearly half of all new infx
Infx rate of women of African decent is 20 fold above that of whitte women and 5 fold above Hispanic women
Prevalence of HIV in DC is 2.5%
HIV has infected 70 million people; half have died
In 2016, there are 37 million people living with HIV infx—> 2.1 mill new infections and 1.1 mill death in 2016
Where is HIV particularly prevalent
Underdeveloped countries eg subsaharan Africa, Botswana, highest infection rates in the world
HAART therapy
Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy
Reversed trend of increasing AIDS deaths in the US, greater prevalence because more people living with AIDS
Treatment in the developing world
Being expanded
New infections and deaths due to aids have fallen by 1/3 and people being treated has increased
When and Where did HIV come from?
Construct phylogenetic tree that shows genetic relationships between hundreds of virus strains isolated throughout the world
A and B have 98% sequence identity and are connected by a horizontal line, the length of which is proportional to genetic disease - 2% in this case
C and D are 96% similar etc
HIV family tree - what does it tell you?
Slide 28
HIV strains are grouped into ‘clades’, in the US almost all infections are caused by Claude B virus
This is why there is no AIDS vaccine— lots of diversity!
Star burst pattern- terminus of each line represents a virus strain and they are connected to eachother
Sequences cluster into groups termed clades and given letter designations
Virus strains within a clade are more similar to eachother than they are to viruses in other clades
In North America, virtually all HIV + ppl have a clade B virus, in other parts of the world, other clades predominate
**alll HIV strains arose from a common ancestor - single introduction of HIV into humans at some point in the past
Genetic Distance vs Year graph - what does it tell you?
Introduced into the population around 1910, cake from nonhuman primates
Year virus was isolated on the x axis and its genetic distance from the ancestor on the y axis—> linear regression—-> pandemic arose from single transmission event around 1910