Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • 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
    • Video Abstracts
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Complement Biology and Therapeutics (May 2025)
    • Evolving insights into MASLD and MASH pathogenesis and treatment (Apr 2025)
    • Microbiome in Health and Disease (Feb 2025)
    • Substance Use Disorders (Oct 2024)
    • Clonal Hematopoiesis (Oct 2024)
    • Sex Differences in Medicine (Sep 2024)
    • Vascular Malformations (Apr 2024)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Commentaries
    • Editor's notes
    • Reviews
    • Viewpoints
    • 100th anniversary
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Video Abstracts
  • In-Press Preview
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials
  • Commentaries
  • Editor's notes
  • Reviews
  • Viewpoints
  • 100th anniversary
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
Top
  • View PDF
  • Download citation information
  • Send a comment
  • Terms of use
  • Standard abbreviations
  • Need help? Email the journal
  • Top
  • Abstract
  • Version history
  • Article usage
  • Citations to this article

Advertisement

Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI3480

HIV-1 kills renal tubular epithelial cells in vitro by triggering an apoptotic pathway involving caspase activation and Fas upregulation.

P G Conaldi, L Biancone, A Bottelli, A Wade-Evans, L C Racusen, M Boccellino, V Orlandi, C Serra, G Camussi, and A Toniolo

Division of Microbiology, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese 21100, Italy. pgiulio@working.it

Find articles by Conaldi, P. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Division of Microbiology, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese 21100, Italy. pgiulio@working.it

Find articles by Biancone, L. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Division of Microbiology, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese 21100, Italy. pgiulio@working.it

Find articles by Bottelli, A. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Division of Microbiology, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese 21100, Italy. pgiulio@working.it

Find articles by Wade-Evans, A. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Division of Microbiology, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese 21100, Italy. pgiulio@working.it

Find articles by Racusen, L. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Division of Microbiology, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese 21100, Italy. pgiulio@working.it

Find articles by Boccellino, M. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Division of Microbiology, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese 21100, Italy. pgiulio@working.it

Find articles by Orlandi, V. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Division of Microbiology, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese 21100, Italy. pgiulio@working.it

Find articles by Serra, C. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Division of Microbiology, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese 21100, Italy. pgiulio@working.it

Find articles by Camussi, G. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Division of Microbiology, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese 21100, Italy. pgiulio@working.it

Find articles by Toniolo, A. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Published December 15, 1998 - More info

Published in Volume 102, Issue 12 on December 15, 1998
J Clin Invest. 1998;102(12):2041–2049. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI3480.
© 1998 The American Society for Clinical Investigation
Published December 15, 1998 - Version history
View PDF
Abstract

HIV-infected patients suffer several renal syndromes, which can progress rapidly from renal insufficiency to end-stage renal disease. Histologically, HIV-induced nephropathy is characterized by prominent tubulopathy with apoptosis of tubular cells. Clinical and experimental evidence suggests that renal injury may be directly related to virus infection. Although HIV-1 is a polytropic and not solely lymphotropic pathogen, the susceptibility of renal cells to HIV-1 remains to be determined. This paper demonstrates in vitro the permissiveness of proximal tubular epithelial cells (PTEC) to HIV-1 and describes the effects of PTEC infection to explain the pathogenesis of tubular damage in vivo. The results indicate that PTEC express HIV-specific receptor and coreceptors and sustain virus replication. We observed that HIV-1 infection causes the death of tubular cells by triggering an apoptotic pathway involving caspase activation. Fas upregulation but not Fas ligand expression was found in the infected PTEC. However, after HIV-1 infection, tubular cells became susceptible to apoptosis induced through Fas stimulation. Caspase inhibition prevented the death of the infected PTEC in spite of persistent viral replication. These findings may explain the prominent histopathology of HIV-associated nephropathy and demonstrate that the apoptosis of nonlymphoid cells can be directly induced by HIV-1.

Version history
  • Version 1 (December 15, 1998): No description

Article tools

  • View PDF
  • Download citation information
  • Send a comment
  • Terms of use
  • Standard abbreviations
  • Need help? Email the journal

Metrics

  • Article usage
  • Citations to this article

Go to

  • Top
  • Abstract
  • Version history
Advertisement
Advertisement

Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts