H. Deng is the first-listed author of a 1996 study identifying CCR5 as a major co-receptor for entry by tested primary HIV-1 isolates. The work addressed a specific puzzle: CD4 was a necessary recognition component, but its presence alone did not explain why different HIV-1 isolates entered different kinds of host cells. The paper showed that the chemokine receptor then called CC-CKR-5, now CCR5, supported entry mediated by the envelopes of primary macrophage-tropic HIV-1 strains.[ref]
Identification of a major co-receptor for primary isolates of HIV-1 by H. Deng and others. Abstract, Nature 381 (1996), pp. 661–666; DOI 10.1038/381661a0.
The useful conceptual example is that a host cell can possess CD4 yet lack the additional receptor combination used by a particular HIV-1 isolate. The study contrasted this entry pattern with that of viruses adapted to T-cell lines. It therefore established a receptor contribution for specified virus–cell combinations, rather than a rule that one co-receptor serves every HIV-1 isolate. This distinction connects molecular recognition at the cell membrane with differences in which cells a virus can enter.[ref]
Identification of a major co-receptor for primary isolates of HIV-1 by H. Deng and others. Abstract: comparison of fusin-dependent and CC-CKR-5-dependent entry.
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