Inhibition of HIV replication by pokeweed antiviral protein targeted to CD4⁺ cells by monoclonal antibodies

Abstract

FUNCTIONAL impairment and selective depletion of CD4⁺ T cells, the hallmark of AIDS, are at least partly caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) type 1 binding to the CD4 molecule and infecting CD4⁺ cells^1,2. It may, therefore, be of therapeutic value to target an antiviral agent to CD4⁺ cells to prevent infection and to inhibit HIV-1 production in patients' CD4⁺ cells which contain proviral DNA^3,4. We report here that HIV-1 replication in normal primary CD4⁺ T cells can be inhibited by pokeweed antiviral protein, a plant protein of relative molecular mass 30,000 (ref. 5), which inhibits replication of certain plant RNA viruses^6–8, and of herpes simplex virus, poliovirus and influenza virus^9–11. Targeting pokeweed antiviral protein to CD4⁺ T cells by conjugating it to monoclonal antibodies reactive with CDS, CD7 or CD4 expressed on CD4⁺ cells, increased its anti-HIV potency up to 1,000-fold. HIV-1 replication is inhibited at picomolar concentrations of conjugates of pokeweed antiviral protein and monoclonal antibodies, which do not inhibit proliferation of normal CD4⁺ T cells or CD4-dependent responses. These conjugates inhibit HIV-1 protein synthesis and also strongly inhibit HIV-1 production in activated CD4⁺ T cells from infected patients.