INTRACELLULAR SIGNALING MEDIATING HIV-1 GP120 NEUROTOXICITY

During the last few years several studies have been undertaken to char acterise the role of gp120, the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein, in the ph atogenesis of neurological defects associated with AIDS. However, neur ons did not appear to be the main target of the virus, since the wides pread neuronal damage is not associated with a productive viral infect ion in neurons. The current opinion supports the hypothesis that an in direct mechanism exists to explain the neuronal cell death which occur s in patients infected by HIV-1. In particular, several reports sugges t that gp120 may be the main candidate as mediator of the neurological deficits during HIV-1 infection and demonstrate that this molecule af fects neuronal survival through a direct interaction with non-neuronal cell types such as monocytes, macrophages/microglia and astrocytes. ( C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.