Expression of HERV-K108 envelope interferes with HIV-1 production

The human endogenous retroviruses (HERV)-K of the HML-2 group include full-length or near full-length elements encoding functional proteins, and are classified as type-1 or type-2 (type-1 has a deletion in the 5' end of the env gene). Because proteins of different retroviruses can interact, we hypothesized that HERV-K envelope (Env) could influence HIV-1 replication. Here we describe the negative effect of envelope expression of certain type-2 HERV-Ks on HIV-1 production. All HIV-1 and SIV strains tested were susceptible to various degrees to inhibition by the HERV-K108 envelope. We identified four residues within HERV-K108 Env as being critical to inhibit HIV-1 production. No inhibition was observed on EGFP expression, indicating that HERV-K Env does not affect general protein production. These findings demonstrate that envelope proteins from some endogenous retroviruses can limit production of exogenous lentiviruses such as HIV-1. Future studies will elucidate the mechanism mediating HIV-1 inhibition by HERV Envs.