As a result, HIV-1 infection induced the aggregation of endogenous full-length TDP-43, which was blocked by a pan-Caspase inhibitor or specific Capase 3 inhibitor (Fig. 5H,I), suggesting that Vpu/Caspase 3 axis-dependent TDP-43 cleavage primarily causes TDP-43 aggregation by generating a dominant-negative TDP-43-truncated protein. This evidence concerns the gene SGTA and HIV-1 infection.