A NOVEL INTEGRIN SPECIFICITY FOR THE HIV Tat PROTEIN

摘要

The present invention relates to HIV Tat proteins and integrin cell surface receptor that specifically recognizes the HIV Tat protein. The integrin is a heterodimer containing an alpha v subunit and one or more beta subunits, such as alpha v beta 5 derived from human cells and alpha v beta 8 derived from rat cells. The present invention further relates to reactive fragments having sequences corresponding to the binding regions of the HIV Tat protein and the Tat binding integrins. Methods of controlling the binding of the HIV Tat protein to cells expressing such integrins are also provided.