CD4 Based In Vivo Imaging Agents For HIV-1 Disease

We will develop two radioiodinated CD4-immunoglobulin chimetric proteins as novel in vivoimaging agents for HIV-1 disease. The two recombinant proteins are CD4-gamma2, a homodimercontaining two chains of a CD4-human IgG2 heavy chain fusion protein; and, CD4-IgG2, a heterotetram-er containing two chains of a CD4-human IgG2 heavy chain fusion protein and two chains of aCD4-human kappa light chain fusion protein. The major advantage of CD4-based molecules overmonoclonal antibodies as candidate imaging agents is that CD4 binds with high affinity to the HIV-1envelope glycoprotein gp120/gp41 of all stains of the virus. The development of an in vivo imagingagent for HIV-1 disease will likely provide new insights into the pathogenesis of this disease and be avaluable tool in the management of HIV-1 infected individuals.