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From * LeukoSite, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142; the CCR5 is a chemokine receptor expressed by T cells and macrophages, which also functions as
the principal coreceptor for macrophage (M)-tropic strains of HIV-1. To understand the molecular basis of the binding of chemokines and HIV-1 to CCR5, we developed a number of
mAbs that inhibit the various interactions of CCR5, and mapped the binding sites of these
mAbs using a panel of CCR5/CCR2b chimeras. One mAb termed 2D7 completely blocked
the binding and chemotaxis of the three natural chemokine ligands of CCR5, RANTES (regulated on activation normal T cell expressed and secreted), macrophage inflammatory protein
(MIP)-1
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center,
The Rockefeller University, New York 10016; and § IRIBHN, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Campus
Erasme, B-1070 Bruxelles, Belgium
, and MIP-1
, to CCR5 transfectants. This mAb was a genuine antagonist of CCR5,
since it failed to stimulate an increase in intracellular calcium concentration in the CCR5 transfectants, but blocked calcium responses elicited by RANTES, MIP-1
, or MIP-1
. This mAb
inhibited most of the RANTES and MIP-1
chemotactic responses of activated T cells, but
not of monocytes, suggesting differential usage of chemokine receptors by these two cell types.
The 2D7 binding site mapped to the second extracellular loop of CCR5, whereas a group of
mAbs that failed to block chemokine binding all mapped to the NH2-terminal region of
CCR5. Efficient inhibition of an M-tropic HIV-1-derived envelope glycoprotein gp120 binding to CCR5 could be achieved with mAbs recognizing either the second extracellular loop or
the NH2-terminal region, although the former showed superior inhibition. Additionally, 2D7
efficiently blocked the infectivity of several M-tropic and dual-tropic HIV-1 strains in vitro.
These results suggest a complicated pattern of HIV-1 gp120 binding to different regions of
CCR5, but a relatively simple pattern for chemokine binding. We conclude that the second
extracellular loop of CCR5 is an ideal target site for the development of inhibitors of either
chemokine or HIV-1 binding to CCR5.
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