Assembly and Trafficking of Homo- or Heterodimers of Chemokine HIV Co-Receptors

The past decade has witnessed extraordinary advancements in the therapy of HIV infections. Despite the undeniable efficacy of anti-HIV therapies, important limitations arise including emergence and transmission of multi-resistant strains and difficulties with side effects. HIV infection occurs via the attachment of the virus on cell surface receptors, particularly CD4, CXCR4 or CCR5. But as for most cell surface receptors, very little is known regarding the method used to travel inside the cell after their synthesis. The first question we want to answer is where are the different components of HIV receptors assembled inside the cell? Defining the exact composition of the proteins forming HIV receptors is certainly key to develop an appropriate therapy. Other questions arise from this: Is there any influence of other proteins on the trafficking route used by receptors to be functional? Is there any specific partners that are found in certain signaling complexes and not others? And if there are some, can we target them for new and more specific therapies? These are the questions this Research Proposal suggests to study to understand the basic mechanisms leading to the formation of HIV receptors.