A NATURAL ANTISENSE RNA DERIVED FROM THE HIV-1 ENV GENE ENCODES A PROTEIN WHICH IS RECOGNIZED BY CIRCULATING ANTIBODIES OF HIV+ INDIVIDUALS

A naturally occurring antisense RNA, transcribed in the opposite direc tion and complementary to the envelope transcript, was identified in v arious cell lines chronically infected with HIV-1. In T cells, the ant isense transcript is constitutively expressed and enhanced by activati on with phorbol myristate acetate. The open reading frame correspondin g to the antisense transcript, when expressed in vitro, encodes a prot ein with an apparent molecular mass of 19 kDa. Antibodies against this protein have been detected in several sera of HIV+ individuals and no t in any of the noninfected control sera. These results indicate, for the first time, that expression of an antisense open reading frame mos t likely accompanies the HIV infection cycle in humans. (C) 1995 Acade mic Press, Inc.