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The HIV-1 Tat protein modulates CD4 expression in human T cells through the induction of miR-222

Several cellular microRNAs show substantial changes in expression during HIV-1 infection and their active role in the viral life cycle is progressively emerging. In the present study, we found that HIV-1 infection of Jurkat T cells significantly induces the expression of miR-222. We show that this i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Orecchini, Elisa, Doria, Margherita, Michienzi, Alessandro, Giuliani, Erica, Vassena, Lia, Ciafrè, Silvia Anna, Farace, Maria Giulia, Galardi, Silvia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Landes Bioscience 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4075518/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24717285
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/rna.28372
Descripción
Sumario:Several cellular microRNAs show substantial changes in expression during HIV-1 infection and their active role in the viral life cycle is progressively emerging. In the present study, we found that HIV-1 infection of Jurkat T cells significantly induces the expression of miR-222. We show that this induction depends on HIV-1 Tat protein, which is able to increase the transcriptional activity of NFkB on miR-222 promoter. Moreover, we demonstrate that miR-222 directly targets CD4, a key receptor for HIV-1, thus reducing its expression. We propose that Tat, by inducing miR-222 expression, complements the CD4 downregulation activity exerted by other viral proteins (i.e., Nef, Vpu, and Env), and we suggest that this represents a novel mechanism through which HIV-1 efficiently represses CD4 expression in infected cells.