{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,11]],"date-time":"2026-09-11T05:51:02Z","timestamp":1789105862102,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,30]],"date-time":"2025-09-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1759190400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009060","name":"SIDACTION","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["12676"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["12676"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009060","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003323","name":"Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le Sida et les H\u00e9patites Virales","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["ECTZ243867"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ECTZ243867"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003323","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004794","name":"Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004794","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100008222","name":"University of Montpellier","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100008222","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.mdpi.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The negative strand of the human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) proviral genome contains an antisense open reading frame encoding a protein (ASP) with no known homologs. The presence of immune responses to ASP in people living with HIV-1 (PLWH) demonstrates its expression in vivo. Further, the predicted hydrophobicity of ASP is consistent with its association with the plasma membrane and viral envelope. Despite this body of evidence, the role of ASP in HIV-1 replication remains unknown. In this report, we investigated the hypothesis that the presence of ASP on the viral surface enhances HIV-1 entry into target cells. We generated an ASP-knockout replication-competent HIV-1 molecular clone in the NL4-3 background, which we used to perform cell\u2013cell fusion, viral entry, and viral replication assays. Our results suggest that the presence of ASP on the plasma membrane of infected cells and the envelope of HIV-1 virions enhances viral transmission. Overall, our studies provide first evidence that ASP plays a role in the HIV-1 replication cycle. Further investigation into these observations may lead to the identification of new HIV-1 vulnerabilities that may be the target of novel interventions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v17101332","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,30]],"date-time":"2025-09-30T15:38:55Z","timestamp":1759246735000},"page":"1332","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["The Antisense Protein ASP of HIV-1 Enhances Viral Entry in CD4+ T Cells"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Myriam Abla","family":"Houmey","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institut de Recherche en Infectiologie de Montpellier (IRIM), CNRS, Universit\u00e9 de Montpellier, 34090 Montpellier, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Isabella","family":"Caico","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aur\u00e9lie","family":"Rivault","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institut de Recherche en Infectiologie de Montpellier (IRIM), CNRS, Universit\u00e9 de Montpellier, 34090 Montpellier, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lucile","family":"Espert","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institut de Recherche en Infectiologie de Montpellier (IRIM), CNRS, Universit\u00e9 de Montpellier, 34090 Montpellier, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3344-5367","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jean-Michel","family":"Mesnard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institut de Recherche en Infectiologie de Montpellier (IRIM), CNRS, Universit\u00e9 de Montpellier, 34090 Montpellier, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2070-297X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fabio","family":"Romerio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA"},{"name":"Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1528-9607","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nathalie","family":"Chazal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institut de Recherche en Infectiologie de Montpellier (IRIM), CNRS, Universit\u00e9 de Montpellier, 34090 Montpellier, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1420","DOI":"10.1126\/science.3347840","article-title":"Human Immunodeficiency Virus May Encode a Novel Protein on the Genomic DNA plus Strand","volume":"239","author":"Miller","year":"1988","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11537","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1605739113","article-title":"Concomitant Emergence of the Antisense Protein Gene of HIV-1 and of the Pandemic","volume":"113","author":"Cassan","year":"2016","journal-title":"Proc. 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