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OBJECTIVES: To evaluate cross-clade recognition of p55 antigen by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) in persons infected with diverse clades of HIV-1; to facilitate the development of a CTL-inducing vaccine to prevent transmission of multiple clades of HIV-1. DESIGN: Experiments were designed to evaluate whether persons in Uganda and the United Kingdom, infected with diverse clades of HIV-1, have CTL capable of recognizing and killing autologous target cells infected with recombinant vaccinia viruses (rVV) expressing the Gag protein from A, B, C and D clade HIV-1. The extent of cross-reactivity within such individuals, each infected with characterized virus, might reflect the type of cross-reactive immune response inducible by a monovalent vaccine. METHODS: Asymptomatic HIV-positive individuals were fully tissue-typed by ARMS (amplification of refractory mutation system) polymerase chain reaction. rVV expressing the Gag protein from identified A, B, C and D viruses were prepared. CTL were cultured and tested for cytolytic activity on autologous rVV-infected or peptide-pulsed B cells. RESULTS: Ugandan patients had inducible CTL responses recognizing A, B, C and D clade HIV-1 Gag. The majority of UK patients had inducible CTL responses that recognized two or more clades. No patient showed any HIV-2 cross-reactivity. Cross-reactive responses were characterized in three Ugandan patients. CONCLUSIONS: Most patients tested mounted cross-reactive CTL responses that recognized Gag proteins from clades of HIV-1 other than those with which they were infected.

Original publication

DOI

10.1097/00002030-199806000-00005

Type

Journal article

Journal

AIDS

Publication Date

16/04/1998

Volume

12

Pages

571 - 579

Keywords

Amino Acid Sequence, Cytotoxicity Tests, Immunologic, Gene Products, gag, Genetic Vectors, HIV Core Protein p24, HIV Infections, HIV-1, HIV-2, HLA-A Antigens, HLA-B Antigens, HLA-B27 Antigen, Histocompatibility Testing, Humans, Molecular Sequence Data, Peptides, Protein Precursors, Species Specificity, T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic, Uganda, United Kingdom, Vaccinia virus