Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Alerts
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Author's Takes
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Lung inflammatory injury and tissue repair (Jul 2023)
    • Immune Environment in Glioblastoma (Feb 2023)
    • Korsmeyer Award 25th Anniversary Collection (Jan 2023)
    • Aging (Jul 2022)
    • Next-Generation Sequencing in Medicine (Jun 2022)
    • New Therapeutic Targets in Cardiovascular Diseases (Mar 2022)
    • Immunometabolism (Jan 2022)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Commentaries
    • Research letters
    • Letters to the editor
    • Editorials
    • Viewpoint
    • Top read articles
  • Clinical Medicine
  • JCI This Month
    • Current issue
    • Past issues

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Author's Takes
  • In-Press Preview
  • Commentaries
  • Research letters
  • Letters to the editor
  • Editorials
  • Viewpoint
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Alerts
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
Dangerous liaisons at the virological synapse
Vincent Piguet, Quentin Sattentau
Vincent Piguet, Quentin Sattentau
Published September 1, 2004
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2004;114(5):605-610. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI22812.
View: Text | PDF
Review

Dangerous liaisons at the virological synapse

  • Text
  • PDF
Abstract

Cell-to-cell viral transmission facilitates the propagation of HIV-1 and human T cell leukemia virus type 1. Mechanisms of cell-to-cell transmission by retroviruses were not well understood until the recent description of virological synapses (VSs). VSs function as specialized sites of immune cell-to-cell contact that direct virus infection. Deciphering the molecular mechanisms of VS formation provides a fascinating insight into how pathogens subvert immune cell communication programs and achieve viral spread.

Authors

Vincent Piguet, Quentin Sattentau

×

Figure 1

Options: View larger image (or click on image) Download as PowerPoint
Three mechanisms of HIV propagation. (A) Cell-free viral transmission. T...
Three mechanisms of HIV propagation. (A) Cell-free viral transmission. The classical route of viral propagation occurs via the binding of cell-free virions to a permissive host cell via CD4 and viral coreceptors (CCR5 or CXCR4), followed by viral entry into the cytoplasm by fusion and subsequent viral replication. (B) DC–T cell viral transmission. In the mucosal epithelia, DCs capture HIV virions via viral binding to C-type lectin–related (CLR) molecules or other cell-surface receptors, without necessarily becoming infected, and re-present infectious virus to CD4+ T cells after migration to the lymph nodes. (C) T cell–T cell viral transmission. An HIV-1–infected CD4+T cell infects a second CD4+ T cell without the requirement for release of cell-free virions into the surrounding extracellular milieu, which represents viral propagation through direct cell-to-cell transmission.

Copyright © 2023 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts