Down-regulation of HIV-1 Infection by Inhibition of the MAPK Signaling Pathway

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 （HIV-1） can interact with and exploit the host cellular machinery to replicate and propagate itself. Numerous studies have shown that the Mitogen-activated protein kinase （MAPK） signal pathway can positively regulate the replication of HIV-1, but exactly how each MAPK pathway affects HIV-1 infection and replication is not understood. In this study, we used the Extracellular signal-regulated kinase （ERK） pathway inhibitor, PD98059, the Jun N-terminal kinase （JNK） pathway inhibitor, SP600125, and the p38 pathway inhibitor, SB203580, to investigate the roles of these pathways in HIV-1 replication. We found that application of PD98059 results in a strong VSV-G pseudotyped HIV-1NL4-3 luciferase reporter virus and HIV-1NL4-3 virus inhibition activity. In addition, SB203580 and SP600125 also elicited marked VSV-G pseudotyped HIV-INL4-3 luciferase reporter virus inhibition activity but no HIV-1NL4-3 virus inhibition activity. We also found that SB203580 and SP600125 can enhance the HIV-1 inhibition activity of PD98059 when cells were treated with all three MAPK pathway inhibitors in combination. Finally, we show that HIV-1 virus inhibition activity of the MAPK pathway inhibitors was the result of the negative regulation of HIV-1 LTR promoter activity.