Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Division of Infectious Diseases, Nanfang Hospitalgrid.416466.7, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
J Virol. 2021 Aug 10;95(17):e0081621. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00816-21.
The complete eradication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is blocked by latent reservoirs in CD4 T cells and myeloid lineage cells. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) can induce the reversal of HIV-1 latency and trigger the innate immune response. To the best of our knowledge, there is little evidence showing the "killing" effect of TLR1/2 agonists but only a small "shock" potential. To identify a new approach for eradicating the HIV latent reservoir, we evaluated the effectiveness of SMU-Z1, a novel small-molecule TLR1/2 agonist, in the "shock-and-kill" strategy. The results showed that SMU-Z1 could enhance latent HIV-1 transcription not only in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from aviremic HIV-1-infected donors receiving combined antiretroviral therapy but also in cells of myeloid-monocytic origin targeting the NF-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways. Interestingly, the activation marker CD69 was significantly upregulated in natural killer (NK) cells, B cells, and monocytes 48 h after SMU-Z1 treatment. Furthermore, SMU-Z1 was able to activate T cells without global T cell activation, as well as increasing NK cell degranulation and gamma interferon (IFN-γ) production, which further block HIV-1-infected CD4 lymphocytes. In summary, the present study found that SMU-Z1 can both enhance HIV-1 transcription and promote NK cell-mediated inhibition of HIV-1-infected autologous CD4 T cells. These findings indicate that the novel TLR1/2 agonist SMU-Z1 is a promising latency-reversing agent (LRA) for eradication of HIV-1 reservoirs. Multiple studies showed that many LRAs used in the shock-and-kill approach could activate viral transcription but could not induce killing effectively. Therefore, a dual-function LRA is needed for elimination of HIV-1 reservoirs. We previously developed a small-molecule TLR1/2 agonist, SMU-Z1, and demonstrated that it could upregulate NK cells and CD8 T cells with immune adjuvant and antitumor properties . In the present study, SMU-Z1 could activate innate immune cells without global T cell activation, induce production of proinflammatory and antiviral cytokines, and enhance the cytotoxic function of NK cells. We showed that SMU-Z1 displayed dual potential in the shock of exposure of latently HIV-1-infected cells and in the kill of clearance of infected cells, which is critical for effective use in combination with therapeutic vaccines or broadly neutralizing antibody treatments aimed at curing AIDS.
人类免疫缺陷病毒 1 型(HIV-1)的完全清除受到 CD4 T 细胞和髓样谱系细胞中潜伏储库的阻碍。 Toll 样受体(TLR)可诱导 HIV-1 潜伏期的逆转并触发先天免疫反应。据我们所知,几乎没有证据表明 TLR1/2 激动剂具有“杀伤”作用,而只有很小的“冲击”潜力。为了寻找一种新的方法来清除 HIV 潜伏储库,我们评估了新型小分子 TLR1/2 激动剂 SMU-Z1 在“冲击和杀伤”策略中的有效性。结果表明,SMU-Z1 不仅可以增强接受联合抗逆转录病毒治疗的无病毒血症 HIV-1 感染供体外周血单个核细胞中潜伏 HIV-1 的转录,还可以靶向 NF-κB 和丝裂原活化蛋白激酶途径的髓样单核细胞。有趣的是,SMU-Z1 处理 48 小时后,自然杀伤(NK)细胞、B 细胞和单核细胞中的激活标志物 CD69 显著上调。此外,SMU-Z1 能够激活 T 细胞而不引起全局 T 细胞激活,同时增加 NK 细胞脱颗粒和产生γ干扰素(IFN-γ),从而进一步阻断 HIV-1 感染的 CD4 淋巴细胞。总之,本研究发现 SMU-Z1 既能增强 HIV-1 的转录,又能促进 NK 细胞介导的抑制 HIV-1 感染的自体 CD4 T 细胞。这些发现表明,新型 TLR1/2 激动剂 SMU-Z1 是一种有前途的 HIV-1 储库清除剂。多项研究表明,冲击杀伤方法中使用的许多 LRAs 可以激活病毒转录,但不能有效诱导杀伤。因此,需要一种具有双重功能的 LRA 来消除 HIV-1 储库。我们之前开发了一种小分子 TLR1/2 激动剂 SMU-Z1,并证明它具有免疫佐剂和抗肿瘤特性,可上调 NK 细胞和 CD8 T 细胞。在本研究中,SMU-Z1 可以在不激活全局 T 细胞的情况下激活先天免疫细胞,诱导产生促炎和抗病毒细胞因子,并增强 NK 细胞的细胞毒性功能。我们表明,SMU-Z1 在潜伏 HIV-1 感染细胞的暴露冲击和清除感染细胞的杀伤方面具有双重潜力,这对于与旨在治愈艾滋病的治疗性疫苗或广泛中和抗体治疗联合使用至关重要。
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