Envelope glycoprotein GP120 (or gp120 ) is a glycoprotein exposed on the surface of the HIV envelope. It , and is encoded by the env gene. gp120 is the larger of two parts of the HIV envelope spike complex, along with gp41.
gp120 was discovered by Professors Tun-Hou Lee and Myron "Max" Essex of the Harvard School of Public Health in 1988. It is a key antigen used in HIV blood tests. Binding of gp120 to CD4 initiates the fusion of the virus into the host cell.
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