The human immunodeficiency virus long terminal repeat contains sequences showing partial homology to glucocorticoid responsive elements.

Steroid hormone receptor genes represent a multigene family encoding ligand activated transcription factors which act by binding to defined nucleotide sequences termed Hormone Responsive Elements (HREs). Many retroviruses contain Glucocorticoid Responsive Elements in their Long Terminal Repeats (LTRs). In view of the fact that glucocorticoids affect HIV-1 expression, we searched the nucleotide sequence of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 LTR to identify such elements. Potential GREs were identified showing close matches to the GRE consensus sequences previously reported. These GRE elements may be involved in glucocorticoid regulation of virus transcription in the host cell.