T. Kalebic et Ps. Schein, ORGANIC THIOPHOSPHATE WR-151327 SUPPRESSES EXPRESSION OF HIV IN CHRONICALLY INFECTED-CELLS, AIDS research and human retroviruses, 10(6), 1994, pp. 727-733
Reducing agents such as glutathione (GSH), glutathione ester (GSE), an
d N-acetylcysteine (NAC) have been shown to suppress the induction of
HIV expression in chronically infected cells stimulated by cytokines.
We present data which show the effects of the organic thiophosphate WR
-151327 on the expression of latent HIV in U1 cells. The chronically i
nfected promonocytic cell line U1 constitutively expresses low levels
of HIV that can be increased by 13-phorbol 12-myristate acetate (PMA),
tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and granulocyte/monocyte col
ony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). WR-151327 suppressed, in dose-depende
nt fashion, the reverse transcriptase (RT) activity induced by TNF-alp
ha, GM-CSF, and PMA. The maximal decrease in RT activity was 70, 80, a
nd 50%, respectively. Pretreatment with WR-151327 also suppressed the
induction of total HIV protein synthesis, as shown by Western blot ana
lysis. In addition, WR-151327 suppressed HIV-LTR-CAT activity in trans
fected human rhabdomyosarcoma cells (RD). Suppression of HIV expressio
n by WR-151327 was observed in the absence of a cytotoxic or cytostati
c effect. Incubation of WR-151327 with human recombinant TNF-alpha for
6 hr at 37 degrees C did not alter the capacity of TNF-alpha to induc
e the expression of HIV. Our observations further support the hypothes
is that reducing agents are important in the control of HIV replicatio
n and that the clinical evaluation of WR-151327 may be indicated.