HIV-1 envelope protein (gp120) inhibits the activity of human bronchoalveolar macrophages against Cryptococcus neoformans.

Cryptococcus neoformans infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality for HIV-infected persons. Containment of the initial respiratory inoculation to the lung appears defective in patients with AIDS despite the low burden of HIV in bronchoalveolar macrophages. We have studied the fungistatic activity of human bronchoalveolar macrophages (BAM) cultured with an encapsulated strain of C. neoformans in the presence of pooled human serum. We observed 51.6% fungistasis after 24 h of culture. Fungistasis was diminished if the pooled human serum was heat-inactivated but was not affected by anticryptococcal capsular IgG. HIV envelope protein (gp120) has been shown to interfere with lymphocyte activation in vitro. We studied the effects of gp120 on BAM function and found that fungistatic activity was inhibited 25% (p < 0.001). Although binding of yeasts was not affected, gp120 inhibited the internalization of bound yeasts by 46% (p = 0.025). These experiments indicate that gp120 decreases the internalization and fungistasis of C. neoformans by human BAM, and they suggest a mechanism to explain how a small number of HIV-1-infected cells in the lung could impair the containment of C. neoformans.