Identification of the chemokine receptor TER1/CCR8 expressed in brain-derived cells and T cells as a new coreceptor for HIV-1 infection.

We have isolated HIV-1 variants that infect brain-derived CD4-positive cells, which are resistant to both macrophage (M)-tropic and T-cell line (T)-tropic HIV-1 strains. It is possible that this brain cell tropism of the HIV-1 variants is determined by the interaction of HIV-1 with a chemokine receptor (CKR) gene. We attempted to detect the expression of the CKR-like genes using degenerate PCR primers. The brain-derived cells expressed a CKR-like gene TER1/CCR8. Human CD4-expressing cells resistant to all HIV-1 strains became susceptible to brain-cell tropic HIV-1 variants after expression of TER1 in these cells, but these cells were still resistant to M-tropic strains or T-tropic IIIB strain. TER1 was expressed in brain-derived cells and human T-cells. These findings suggest that TER1/CCR8 functions as a co-receptor for HIV-1 infection for brain-derived cells as well as T cells.