What is gp120 used for?
It presents itself as viral membrane spikes consisting of 3 molecules of gp120 linked together and anchored to the membrane by gp41 protein. Gp120 is essential for viral infection as it facilitates HIV entry into the host cell and this is its best-known and most researched role in HIV infection.
What is gp120 antibody?
Goat anti Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 gp120 antibody recognizes the human immunodeficiency virus envelope protein. The viral envelope protein gp160 is cleaved into fragments gp120 and gp41.
What is gp41 and gp120?
gp120 determines viral tropism by binding to target-cell receptors, while gp41 mediates fusion between viral and cellular membranes.
What are examples of glycoproteins?
Some of the examples where glycoproteins are found naturally:
- collagen.
- mucins.
- transferrin.
- ceruloplasmin.
- immunoglobulins.
- antibodies.
- histocompatibility antigens.
- hormones (e.g. follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin, thyroid-stimulating hormone, erythropoietin, alpha-fetoprotein)
Why are gp120 antibodies difficult to bind to?
Since CD4 receptor binding is the most obvious step in HIV infection, gp120 was among the first targets of HIV vaccine research. Efforts to develop HIV vaccines targeting gp120, however, have been hampered by the chemical and structural properties of gp120, which make it difficult for antibodies to bind to it.
Why is the glycoprotein gp120 important to HIV?
The protein gp120 is necessary during the initial binding of HIV to its target cell. Consequently, anything which binds to gp120 or its targets can physically block gp120 from binding to a cell.
How does the glycoprotein gp120 attach to the envelope?
Gp120 is anchored to the viral membrane, or envelope, via non-covalent bonds with the transmembrane glycoprotein, gp41. Three gp120s and gp41s combine in a trimer of heterodimers to form the envelope spike, which mediates attachment to and entry into the host cell.
Which is a conserved region of the glycoprotein gp120?
A conserved region in the gp120 glycoprotein that is involved in the metastable attachment of gp120 to CD4 has been identified and targeting of invariant region has been achieved with a broadly neutralising antibody, IgG1-b12.
