HIV-1 and its coat protein gp120 induce apoptosis and activate JNK and ERK mitogen-activated protein kinases in human neurons

Detection of apoptotic neurons and microglial cells in the brains of HIV-1 infected patients has suggested that programmed cell death may be implicated in the physiopathology of HIV-1 encephalopathy, To analyze in vitro the intracellular signals induced by HIV-1 in human neurons and the associated neuronal death, we tested cultured human central nervous system (CNS) cells for apoptosis induced by HIV-1 and gp120 and for signalling pathways activated by gp120. HIV-1 and gp120 induced apoptosis of neurons and microglial cells and gp120 activated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p42 extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK) in primary CNS cells.