Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (
HIV-1) env genes were
cloned from
blood samples of HIV-1-infected Thai patients, and 35 infectious CRF01_AE envelope
glycoprotein (Env)-recombinant
viruses were established. In this report, we examined the neutralization susceptibility of these
viruses to human
monoclonal antibodies, 2G12,
IgG1 b12, 2F5 and 4E10, pooled patient plasma,
coreceptor antagonists and
fusion inhibitor, T-20. The neutralization susceptibility of CRF01_AE Env-recombinant
viruses to 2F5, 4E10, patient plasma,
coreceptor antagonists and T-20 varied, while most
viruses showed low susceptibility to 2G12 and
IgG1 b12. Several dual-tropic
viruses showed lower susceptibility to 2F5 and 4E10 than CXCR4- or CCR5-tropic
viruses. Neutralization susceptibility of the CRF01_AE Env-recombinant
virus to pooled patient plasma was negatively
correlated with the length of the V1/V2 region or the number of potential N-linked
glycosylation sites in conserved regions of gp120. No
correlation was found between the
coreceptor usage and neutralization susceptibility of the
virus to T-20, whereas several dual-tropic
viruses showed higher susceptibility to
coreceptor antagonists than CXCR4- or CCR5-tropic
viruses. We propose that these CRF01_AE Env-recombinant
viruses are useful to further study the molecular mechanism of the susceptibility of CRF01_AE Env to
neutralizing antibodies and
viral entry inhibitors.
