Le travail décrit dans ce manuscrit vise à caractériser les voies de résistance aux inhibiteurs de CCR5. Lors d’une première étape, nous avons développé un test phénotypique clonal nous permettant d’une part d’identifier le tropisme viral et d’autre part de mesurer la résistance aux inhibiteurs des CCR5. Des virus à tropisme R5 ou X4 représentant aussi peu que 0,4% d’un mélange de populations virales sont détectables par ce test, démontrant ainsi sa sensibilité. De plus, grâce à son approche clonale, cette technique permet de différencier les virus à tropisme double de populations virales mixtes. Par la suite, nous avons étudié l’impact des mutations dans les régions variables de la protéine gp120 de l’enveloppe du virus VIH-1 sur la résistance aux inhibiteurs de CCR5. Pour ce faire, nous avons généré des virus résistants par passage des isolats CC1/85 et BAL, en présence de concentrations sous-inhibitrices de maraviroc (MVC) et vicriviroc (VCV). Après quelques passages du virus CC1/85 en présence de MVC, certaines sont apparues dans differentes régions de la gp120. Par la suite, nous avons sélectionné trois mutations dans les domaines variables de la gp 120, V169M en V2, L317W en V3 et I408T en V4 pour construire des virus contenant des mutations simples, doubles et triples afin d’évaluer la contribution des mutations individuelles ou combinées au phénotype de résistance. Nous avons déterminé la sensibilité de chaque mutant à MVC et VCV, le pourcentage d’infectivité et le tropisme viral par rapport au phénotype sauvage. Tous les mutants ont conservé le tropisme R5 et ont montré une diminution d’infectivité par rapport au contrôle. Nos résultats ont montré que les mutants qui portent des mutations en V4 (I408T) ont eu le plus d'impact sur la susceptibilité au MVC. Finalement, nous avons voulu évaluer l’activité antivirale d’un nouvel inhibiteur de CCR5, VCH-286 avec d’autres inhibiteurs de CCR5 tels que MVC et VVC ainsi que ses interactions avec des médicaments représentatifs de différentes classes d’antirétroviraux ARV employés en clinique pour traiter le HIV/SIDA., afin d’évaluer si ces médicaments pourraient être utilisés dans un même régime thérapeutique. Nous avons tout d’abord évalué indépendamment l’activité antivirale des trois inhibiteurs de CCR5 : VCH-286, MVC et VVC. Par la suite nous avons évalué les interactions de VCH-286 avec MVC et VVC. Finalement nous avons évalué les interactions de VCH-286 avec d’autres médicaments antirétroviraux. Ces études ont montré que VCH-286 est un inhibiteur puissant de CCR5 avec une activité antivirale in vitro de l’ordre du nanomolaire et des interactions médicamenteuses favorables avec la majorité des ARV tels que les inhibiteurs de transcriptase inverse, de protéase, d’intégrase, et de fusion employés en clinique pour traiter le VIH/SIDA et des interactions allant de synergie à l'antagonisme avec les inhibiteurs de CCR5. Nos résultats montrent que la plasticité de l’enveloppe virale du VIH-1 a des répercussions sur la résistance aux inhibiteurs de CCR5, le tropisme et la possible utilisation de ces molécules en combinaison avec d’autres molécules appartenant à la même classe. / The work described in this manuscript aimed to characterize the resistance pathways to CCR5 inhibitors. We first developed a phenotypic assay to identify viral tropism and to measure the resistance to CCR5 inhibitors. This assay detects R5 tropic viruses or X4 when they represent as little as 0.4% in a mixture of viral populations, demonstrating its robustness and sensitivity. Based on its clonal approach, this assay can differentiate the truly dual-tropic viruses from mixed viral populations. We then studied the impact of mutations in the variable regions of gp120 envelope protein of HIV-1 virus on resistance to CCR5 inhibitors. To do this, resistant viruses were generated by passage of CC1/85 and BAL isolates in the presence of sub-inhibitory concentrations of maraviroc (MVC) and vicriviroc (VCV). Following some passages of the CC1/85 virus in the presence of MVC, some mutations were identified in differents regions of the gp120. We further selected three mutations in the variable domains of gp120, V169M in V2, L317W in V3 and I408T in V4 to construct viruses containing single, double and triple mutations to assess the contribution of individual or combined mutations in the resistance phenotype to MVC and VCV. We determined the sensitivity of each mutant to MVC and VCV, the tropism and the percentage of infectivity compared to wild type. Our results showed that the sequences that carry mutations in the V4 domain I408T, had the most impact on susceptibility to MVC. Finally, we aimed to evaluate the antiviral activity of a new CCR5 inhibitor, VCH-286 and its interaction with representative drugs from different classes of antiretroviral (ARVs) such as reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, integrase inhibitors and fusion inhibitors used in clinic to treat HIV/AIDS and other CCR5 inhibitors such as MVC and VVC to assess whether these drugs could be used together within the same treatment regimen. To answer this question, we first evaluated the antiviral activity of the three CCR5 inhibitors: VCH-286, MVC, and VVC. We then evaluated the interactions of VCH -286 with MVC VVC. We finally evaluated the interactions of VCH -286 with other ARV drugs These studies showed that VCH-286 is a potent inhibitor of R5 viruses with antiviral activity at the nanomolar range and favorable drug interactions with the majority of ARVs such as reverse transcriptase, protease, integrase and fusion inhibitors employed clinically to treat HIV/AIDS. The combinations of CCR5 inhibitors have interactions ranging from synergy to antagonism. Our results show that the plasticity of the viral envelope of HIV-1 affects resistance to CCR5 inhibitors, its tropism and the potential combination of these drugs.

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Since, its discovery over three decades ago, HIV has wrecked havoc worldwide. According to the UNAIDS report 2011, at present 34 million people is living with HIV and AIDS vaccine with broadly neutralizing activity still remains elusive. The envelope glycoproteins on the virion surface, is the most accessible component to the host immune system and therefore is targeted for vaccine design. However, the virus has employed various strategies to avoid the host immune response. The extremely high rate of mutations, extensive glycosylation of the envelope glycoprotein, conformational flexibility of the envelope, has made all the efforts aimed to design a broadly neutralizing immunogen futile. In Chapter1, we briefly discuss about the structural and genomic organization of the HIV-1 along with various strategies the virus has employed to evade the immune system. We also present the progress and failures encountered in the past three decades, on the way to design protective HIV vaccine and inhibitors. On the host cell surface, HIV-1 glycoprotein gp120 binds to the cell surface receptor CD4 and leads to the fusion of viral and host cellular membranes. CD4 is present on the surface of T-lymphocytes. It consists of a cytoplasmic tail, one transmembrane region, and four extracellular domains, D1−D4. sCD4 has been used as an entry inhibitor against HIV-1. However, this molecule could not neutralize primary isolates of the virus. Previously, from our lab, we had reported the design and characterization of a construct consisting of the first two domains of CD4 (CD4D12), that binds gp120 with similar affinity as soluble 4-domain CD4 (sCD4). However, the first domain alone (CD4D1) was previously shown to be largely unfolded and had 3-fold weaker affinity for gp120 when compared to sCD4 [Sharma, D.; et al. (2005) Biochemistry 44, 16192−16202]. In Chapter 2, we describe the design and characterization of three single-site mutants of CD4D12 (G6A, L51I, and V86L) and one multisite mutant of CD4D1 (G6A/L51I/L5K/F98T). G6A, L51I, and V86L are cavity-filling mutations while L5K and F98T are surface mutations which were introduced to minimize the aggregation of CD4D1 upon removal of the second domain. All the mutations in CD4D12 increased the stability and yield of the protein relative to the wild-type protein. The mutant CD4D1 (CD4D1a) with the 4 mutations was folded and more stable compared to the original CD4D1, but both bound gp120 with comparable affinity. In in vitro neutralization assays, both CD4D1a and G6A-CD4D12 were able to neutralize diverse HIV-1 viruses with similar IC50s as 4-domain CD4. These stabilized derivatives of human CD4 are useful starting points for the design of other more complex viral entry inhibitors. Most HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies are directed against the gp120 subunit of the env surface protein. Native env consists of a trimer of gp120−gp41 heterodimers, and in contrast to monomeric gp120, preferentially binds CD4 binding site (CD4bs)-directed neutralizing antibodies over non-neutralizing ones. One group of cryo-electron tomography studies have suggested that the V1V2 loop regions of gp120 are located close to the trimer interface and the other group claimed that the V1V2 loop region is far from the apex of the trimer. To further investigate the position of the V1V2 region, in the native envelope trimer, in Chapter 3, we describe the design and characterization of cyclically permuted variants of gp120 with and without the h-CMP and SUMO2a trimerization domains inserted into the V1V2 loop. h-CMP-V1cyc is one such variant in which residues 153 and 142 are the N- and C-terminal residues, respectively, of cyclically permuted gp120 and h-CMP is fused to the N-terminus. This molecule forms a trimer under native conditions and binds CD4 and the neutralizing CD4bs antibodies b12 with significantly higher affinity than wild-type gp120. It binds non-neutralizing CD4bs antibody F105 with lower affinity than gp120. A similar derivative, h-CMP-V1cyc1, bound the V1V2 loop-directed broadly neutralizing antibodies PG9 and PG16 with ~15-fold higher affinity than wild-type JRCSF gp120. These cyclic permutants of gp120 are properly folded and are potential immunogens. The data also support env models in which the V1V2 loops are proximal to the trimer interface. HIV-1 envelope (env) protein gp120 has approximately 25 glycosylation sites of which ~4 are located in the inner domain, ~7-8 in the V1/V2 and V3 variable loops and the rest in the outer domain (OD) of gp120. These glycans shield env from recognition by the host immune system and are believed to be indispensable for proper folding of gp120 and viral infectivity. However, there is no detailed study that describes whether a particular potential n-linked glycan is indispensable for folding of gp120.Therefore, in Chapter 4, using rationally designed mutations and yeast surface display (YSD), we show that glycosylation is not essential for the correct in vivo folding of OD alone or OD in the context of core gp120. Following randomization of the remaining four glycosylation sites, we isolated a core gp120 mutant, which contained a single inner domain glycan and retained yeast surface expression and broadly neutralizing antibody (bNAb) binding. Thus demonstrates that most gp120 glycans are dispensable for folding in the absence of gp41. However in the context of gp160, we show that all core gp120 glycans are dispensable for folding, recognition of bNAbs and for viral infectivity. We also show that deglycosylated molecules can serve as a starting point to re-introduce epitopes for specific glycan dependent bNAbs. Several of these constructs will also be useful for epitope mapping and env structural characterization. Glycosylation of env is known to inhibit binding to germline precursors of known bNAbs. Hence the present results inform immunogen design, clarify the role of glycosylation in gp120 folding and illustrate general methodology for design of glycan free, folded protein derivatives. On the virion surface env glycoproteins gp120 and gp41 interact via non-covalent interactions and form trimers of heterodimers. Upon binding cell surface receptor CD4 and co-receptor CCR5/CXCR4, gp120 and gp41 undergo a lot of conformational changes, which ultimately lead to the fusion of viral and cellular membranes by formation of six-helix bundle in gp41. High resolution structural information is available for core gp120 and post-fusion six-helix bundle conformation of gp41. However, the structural information about the native gp120:gp41 interface in the native trimer is lacking. In Chapter 5, we describe the design and characterization of various single chain derivatives of gp120 inner doamin and gp41. Among the designed constructs, gp41-id2b is folded but is a mixture of dimer and monomer under native conditions. To facilitate, trimer formation, two trimerization domains (h-CMP and Foldon) were individually fused to the N-terminus of gp41-id2b to generate h-CMP-gp41-id2b and Foldon-gp41-id2b. Although, these molecules were proteolytically more stable than gp41-id2b, they did not form trimer under native conditions. All the single chain derivatives were designed based on the crystal structure of gp120, which was devoid of C1 and C5 domains (PDBID 1G9M). A new set of constructs to mimic the native gp120:gp41 interface will be designed and characterized based on the recently solved crystal structure of gp120 with the C1 and C5 domains (PDBID 3JWD and 3JWO). Helix-helix interactions are fundamental to many biological signals and systems, found in homo- or hetero-multimerization of signaling molecules as well as in the process of virus entry into the host. In HIV, virus-host membrane fusion during infection is mediated by the formation of six helix bundle (6HB) from homotrimers of gp41, from which a number of synthetic peptides have been derived as antagonists of virus entry. Yeast surface two-hybrid (YS2H) system is a platform, which is designed to detect protein-protein interactions occurring through a secretory pathway. In Chapter 6, we describe the use of aYS2H system, to reconstitute 6HB complex on the yeast surface and delineate the residues influencing homo-oligomeric and hetero-oligomeric coiled-coil interactions. Hence, we present YS2H as a platform for facile characterization of hetero-oligomeric interactions and design of antagonistic peptides for inhibition of HIV and many other enveloped viruses relying on membrane fusion for infection, as well as cellular signaling events triggered by hetero-oligomeric coiled coils. However, using this YS2H platform, the native hetero-oligomeric complex of gp120 and gp41 could not be captured. In Appendix 1, we report cloning, expression and purification of PΔGgp120 and ΔGgp120 from methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. PΔGgp120 was purified as a secreted protein. However, in electrophoretic analyses the molecule ran as a heterogeneous smear. Further optimization of the purification protocol and biophysical characterizations of this molecule will be performed in future. In Appendix 2, gp41 variants were expressed on the yeast cell surface as a C-terminally fused protein and its interaction with externally added gp120 was monitored by FACS. The surface expression of the gp41 constructs was poor and they did not show any interaction with gp120.