Effects of HIV-1 Vpr on neuroinvasion and neuropathogenesis

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection leads to penetration of the central nervous system (CNS) in virtually all infected individuals and HIV-1-induced encephalopathy in a significant number of untreated patients. The molecular mechanisms by which HIV-1 enters the CNS and yields CNS dysfunction are still unclear. Our laboratories and others have begun to explore the direct effects of prioritized HIV-1-specific proteins on diverse human CNS cell types. One of these proteins, the accessory HIV-1 protein Vpr, is a critical moiety in these studies, and will be discussed in this article.