Protease-defective, gp120-containing human immunodeficiency virus type 1 particles induce apoptosis more efficiently than does wild-type virus or recombinant gp120 protein in healthy donor-derived peripheral blood T cells

Apoptosis and syncytium formation are two mechanisms by which human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) impairs uninfected CD4(+) T-cell function and are mainly involved in the progression of the disease to AIDS, Previously, we showed that gp120-containing, protease-deficient HIV-1 (L-2) particles generated syncytia by particle-mediated fusion with uninfected cultured CD4(+) T cells, Here, we present evidence that such L-2 particles can induce apoptosis in 40 to 50% of T cells which were enriched from HIV-1-negative healthy donor-derived peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC-Ts), Activation of PBMC-Ts with phytohemagglutinin, concanavalin A, or ionomycin after incubation with L-2 particles resulted in the loss of proliferative capacity and gradual induction of apoptosis over 3 days, Wild-type strain LAI particles or recombinant gp120 were markedly less efficient (less than or equal to 15%) at inducing such apoptosis, Western blot (immunoblot) analysis revealed that L-2 particles contained a larger amount of Env gp120 than LAI particles, Either preincubation of PBMC-Ts with a Fas antagonist or preincubation of L-2 particles with soluble CD4 blocked most of the apoptosis. This suggests that L-2-like particles can play a major role in HIV-1-induced apoptosis of uninfected bystander cells.