Selective downmodulation of HLA-A and -B by Nef alleles from different groups of primate lentiviruses

It has been demonstrated that the HIV-1 NL4-3 and IIIB Nef alleles downregulate HLA-A and -B but not -C or -E from the cell surface. It remained elusive, however, whether selective modulation of specific HLA molecules is conserved between different groups of human and simian immunodeficiency viruses, respectively. To address this, we analyzed a large panel of primate lentiviral Nef proteins and we found that this property is conserved among nef alleles from the M, N and O groups of HIV-1, as well as those from SIVcpz, the precursor of HIV-1, and a variety of other highly divergent primate lentiviruses. In conclusion, our data indicate that Nef's ability to selectively downregulate HLA-A and -B alleles to prevent CTL lysis and NK killing of virally infected cells is conserved among different primate lentiviral lineages and preceded the zoonotic transmission of SIVcpz from chimpanzees to humans.