Effects of Microtubule Modulators on HIV-1 Infection of Transformed and Resting CD4 T Cells

Previous studies have observed fluorescently labeled HIV particles tracking along microtubule networks for nuclear localization. To provide direct evidence for the involvement of microtubules in early steps of HIV infection of human CD4 T cells, we used multiple microtubule modulators such as paclitaxel (originally called taxol; 1 mu M), vinblastine (1 and 10 mu M), colchicine (10 and 100 mu M), and nocodazole (10 and 100 mu M) to disturb microtubule networks in transformed and resting CD4 T cells. Although these drugs disrupted microtubule integrity, almost no inhibition of HIV-1 infection was observed. Our results do not appear to support an essential role for microtubules in the initiation of HIV infection of CD4 T cells.