HIV Tat protein: Is Tat-C much trickier than Tat-B?

Manish Kumar Johri, Nikhil Sharma, Sunit K Singh

Journal of medical virology 2015 Aug

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Out of various subtypes of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), subtype B and C cause most of the infections worldwide. Clade specific differences have been reported in differences in clinical picture of HIV pathogenesis. Transcription of the HIV-1 genome is regulated by the interaction of HIV Tat protein to the trans-activation response (TAR) element. The differential binding of clade B and C Tat proteins to TAR and differences in activation of NF-κB cascade leading to differential transactivation capacity and cytokine expression has been examined in this study. More stable Tat-TAR complex formation by Tat-C revealed by EMSA and higher TNF-α expression shown by Tat-C compared to Tat-B leads to higher NF-κB activation, which may be plausible cause for higher transactivation by Tat-C as obtained by FACS analysis. This comparative study would be helpful in understanding the basic mechanism of clade specific Tat protein differences and their functional relationships. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Citation

Manish Kumar Johri, Nikhil Sharma, Sunit K Singh. HIV Tat protein: Is Tat-C much trickier than Tat-B? Journal of medical virology. 2015 Aug;87(8):1334-43