HIV-1 gag polyprotein rescues HLA-DR intracellular transport in a human CD4+ cell line

Major histocompatibility complex class II HLA-DR molecules are plasma-membrane integral heterodimers, constitutively expressed in antigen-presenting cells. Their expression is known to be upregulated in peripheral T lymphocytes upon cell activation and to be constitutive in T cell lines. In H78-C10.0, a subclone of the human CD4+ T cell line HUT-78, the transport of MHC class II HLA-DR molecules is blocked, resulting in their localization within internal vesicular compartments rather than at the cell surface. In this article, we show that HIV-1(HX10) infection of H78-C10.0 cells induces HLA-DR surface expression. Moreover, the produced infectious viruses harbor the heterodimer molecules in their envelopes. To define which of the viral proteins was involved in this phenomenon, we infected H78-C10.0 cells with recombinant vaccinia vectors containing either the gag-pro coding sequence or the entire env gene. Only gag expression was able to induce HLA-DR cell-surface localization in H78-C10.0 cells. RT-PCR analysis of the infected cells revealed no significant alteration in the amount of HLA-DRalpha-specific RNA compared to untreated cells. This implies that Gag acts on downstream events. When the env viral gene, coding for the precursor glycoprotein gp160, was expressed in H78-C10.0, the Env protein targeted to the cell surface was poorly processed to its final mature forms gp120 and gp41. However, coexpression of the env and gag genes led to restoration of this phenotype. Although the mechanism is unknown, the data compiled in this study strongly suggest that the viral Gag protein can interact with the cellular trafficking apparatus. Moreover, in a specific cell type as H78-C10.0 this interaction can even reverse intracellular transport defects.