Chemokines comprise a family of low-molecular-weight proteins that elicit a variety of biological responses including chemotaxis, intracellular Ca(2+) mobilization, and activation of tyrosine kinase signaling cascades. A subset of chemokines, including regulated upon activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), macrophage inflammatory protein-1alpha (MIP-1alpha), and MIP-1beta, also suppress infection by HIV-1. All of these activities are contingent on interactions between chemokines and cognate seven-transmembrane spanning, G protein-coupled receptors. However, these activities are strongly inhibited by glycanase treatment of receptor-expressing cells, indicating an additional dependence on surface glycosaminoglycans (GAG). To further investigate this dependence, we examined whether soluble GAG could reconstitute the biological activities of RANTES on glycanase-treated cells. Complexes formed between RANTES and a number of soluble GAG failed to induce intracellular Ca(2+) mobilization on either glycanase-treated or untreated peripheral blood mononuclear cells and were unable to stimulate chemotaxis. In contrast, the same complexes demonstrated suppressive activity against macrophage tropic HIV-1. Complexes composed of (125)I-labeled RANTES demonstrated saturable binding to glycanase-treated peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and such binding could be reversed partially by an anti-CCR5 antibody. These results suggest that soluble chemokine-GAG complexes represent seven-transmembrane ligands that do not activate receptors yet suppress HIV infection. Such complexes may be considered as therapeutic formulations for the treatment of HIV-1 infection.