The phorbol ester phorbol myristate acetate inhibits human immunodeficiency virus type 1 envelope-mediated fusion by modulating an accessory component(s) in CD4-expressing cells.

The phorbol ester phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) strongly inhibits human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-induced syncytium formation; it has been suggested that this inhibitory effect is due to the transient downmodulation of the surface-associated CD4 receptors by PMA (I. H. Chowdhury, Y. Koyanagi, S. Kobayashi, Y. Hamamoto, H. Yoshiyama, T. Yoshida, and N. Yamamoto, Virology 176:126-132, 1990). Surprisingly, PMA treatment of cells expressing truncated (A2.01.CD4.401) and hybrid (A2.01.CD4.CD8) CD4 molecules, which are not downmodulated (P. Bedinger, A. Moriarty, R. C. von Borstel II, N. J. Donovan, K. S. Steimer, and D. R. Littman, Nature [London] 334:162-165, 1988), inhibited their fusion with CD4- (12E1) cells expressing vaccinia virus-encoded HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (gp120-gp41) and with chronically HIV-1-infected H9 (MN, IIIB, or RF) cells. PMA pretreatment of T (12E1) and non-T (HeLa, U937.3, and Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B) cell lines expressing vaccinia virus-encoded CD4 also blocked fusion with 12E1 cells expressing vaccinia virus-encoded gp120-gp41. Interestingly, pretreatment of the gp120-gp41-expressing 12E1 cells with PMA did not alter their fusion with untreated CD4-expressing cells. Although the inhibitory effect of PMA was rapid and treatment for 1.5 h with 5 ng of PMA per ml was sufficient to reduce fusion by more than 50%, the recovery after treatment was slow and more than 40 h was needed before the cells regained half of their fusion potential. The inhibitory effect of PMA was blocked by staurosporine in a dose-dependent fashion, suggesting that it is mediated by protein kinase C. PMA treatment of A2.01.CD4.401 cells reduced the number of infected cells 6.7-fold, as estimated by a quantitative analysis of the HIV-1 MN infection kinetics, probably by affecting the stage of virus entry into cells. CD26 surface expression was not significantly changed by PMA treatment. We conclude that PMA inhibits the CD4-gp120-gp41-mediated fusion by modulating an accessory component(s), different from CD26, in the target CD4-expressing cells. These findings suggest a novel approach for identification of accessory molecules involved in fusion and may have implications for the development of antiviral agents.