HIV protein acts as solvent, releasing viral particles from the surface of their host cell

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Separation anxiety. This electron microscope image shows a Vpu-deficient cell in which HIV particles are unable to separate from their host cell and and accumulate at the surface (above left) and within the cells membrane bound endosomes (far right).
Separation anxiety. This electron microscope image shows a Vpu-deficient cell, in which HIV particles are unable to separate from their host cell and and accumulate at the surface (above, left) and within the cell’s membrane bound endosomes (far right).

In 1989, researchers discovered an HIV protein called Vpu that was key to how the AIDS virus spreads from cell to cell. Produced only by the HIV-1 virus and its closest relatives, Vpu appeared to be somehow involved in helping put together new viral particles and assisting with their release from the cell. Mutant viruses that lack the protein create infected cells with a distinctive characteristic: In these cells, the virus is made but isn’t released efficiently.


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