CONSTRUCTION OF A CELL-BASED HIGH-FLUX ASSAY FOR THE REV PROTEIN OF HIV-1

The Rev of HIV-1 is essential for the replication of the viruses and i s therefore a very attractive target for the development of antiviral drugs. To establish a cell-based high-flux assay system for random scr eening of Rev inhibitors, cells carrying both the Rev-expressing gene and a Rev-inducible SeAP gene were generated by permanent transfection . SeAP produced by these cells was 5-10-fold higher than that synthesi zed by cells not carrying the Rev gene. Northern blot analysis demonst rated that the increase in SeAP was due mainly to an increase in SeAP transcripts, indicating the effect of Rev proteins synthesized by the transfected cells. The assay system reported in this study should be u seful for screening novel Rev inhibitors. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B. V.