Hiroo Hoshino

Inhibition of infectivity of human immunodeficiency virus by a novel nucleoside, oxetanocin, and related compounds.

Oxetanocin is a novel nucleoside containing a 4-membered sugar, oxetanosyl-N-glycoside, and adenine. The effects of oxetanocin and related compounds on the infectivity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were examined. They inhibited HIV infectivity in vitro. Allopurinol and mycophenolic acid produced additive anti-HIV effects when added with these compounds. Images

Inhibition of infection with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 by sulfated gangliosides

Four kinds of gangliosides, namely GM1a, GD1a, GD1b and GT1b and their sulfated derivatives were examined for antiviral activities against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and abilities to modulate CD4 antigen on the cell surface. The infection of human T cells with the virus was markedly inhibited by treatment with the sulfated gangliosides at a concentration of 10 micrograms/ml, while the non-sulfated gangliosides had only weak antiviral activities. The sulfated gangliosides completely inhibited syncytium formation induced by HIV-1 at 30 micrograms/ml. The CD4 antigen on the surface of T cells became hardly detectable after treatment with them. They did not damage cells, nor prolong the activated partial thromboplastin time at concentrations of up to 100 micrograms/ml, suggesting that they may have little side effect in vivo.

Six strains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 isolated in Japan and their molecular phylogeny

SummaryFive strains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) were isolated from five Japanese hemophilia patients. Two isolates, HIV1[GUN-1] and HIV-1[GUN-2], were from brother patients with hemophilia B and the other three isolates, HIV-I[GUN-3], HIV-1[GUN-4], and HIV1[GUN-5], were from hemophilia A patients. Another HIV-1 strain, HIV-1[GUN-6], was isolated from a Canadian male homosexual with AIDS. The restriction endonuclease cleavage maps of the proviral genomes of these six HIV-1 strains revealed that they were apparently different from each other. The phylogenetic trees constructed using restriction maps and nucleotide sequences were quite similar, indicating that phylogenetic analyses of Japanese HIV-1 isolates can be done using restriction maps of the proviruses. Phylogenetic analyses showed that they were more closely related to HIV-1s which had been reported to be isolated from homosexual patients in the United States than those isolated from African patients. In particular, GUN-1 and GUN-2 isolates were on the branch of a San Francisco isolate, ARV2, while GUN-5 and GUN-6 isolates were on the branch of HTLV-IIIB-related isolates.

Patterns of nucleotide substitutions and implications for the immunological diversity of human immunodeficiency virus

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) exhibits immunological hypervariability, which has been an obstacle to successful production of effective anti‐HIV vaccines. In this study, we estimated patterns of nucleotide and amino acid substitutions in the env gene of HIVs, with the aim of finding characteristics of the mechanism which generates the immunological diversity of the env protein of HIVs. We found that nucleotide changes between A and G are predominant compared to those between other nucleotides. Since this feature is consistent with the pattern of nucleotide substitutions of other retroviral genes but is quite different from those of most eukaryotic genes, a high rate of nucleotide substitution between A and G appears to be specific for retroviruses including HIVs. We discuss the biological relationship between this biased substitution and the mechanism generating hypervariability of epitopes on the env protein of HIVs.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Cells of Myeloid‐Monocytic Lineage

We established persistent infection with a strain of human immunodeficiency virus type I, HTLV‐IIIB, in a promyelomonocytic cell line, ML‐1 (CD4 antigen nearly negative and CD4 mRNA negative), and a promonocytic cell line, THP‐1 (CD4 antigen positive). Different reaction of giant cell formation was found after co‐cultivation of infected and uninfected cells of ML‐1, HL‐60, THP‐1 and U‐937 cell lines with uninfected and infected MOLT4 (a T‐lymphoma cell line).