Proliferative Responses to Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) gp120 Peptides in HIV-1-Infected Individuals Immunized with HIV-1 rgp120 or rgp160 Compared with Nonimmunized and Uninfected Controls

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 179; no. 4; pp. 817 - 824
• Main Authors: Sitz, Karl V., Ratto-Kim, Silvia, Hodgkins, Aimee S., Robb, Merlin L., Birx, Deborah L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 01.04.1999; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - immunology; AIDS Vaccines - immunology; AIDS/HIV; Amino Acid Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; HIV Envelope Protein gp120 - immunology; HIV Envelope Protein gp160 - immunology; HIV-1 - immunology; Human immunodeficiency virus 1; Human viral diseases; Humans; Immunization; Infectious diseases; Lymphocyte Activation; Medical sciences; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Peptide Fragments - immunology; Vaccines, antisera, therapeutical immunoglobulins and monoclonal antibodies; Vaccines, Synthetic - immunology; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids; Virology; Human; Immunopathology; Immune response; Antigenic determinant; HIV-1 virus; Toxicity; Retroviridae; AIDS; Vaccine; Immune deficiency; Lentivirus; Cell subpopulation; Infection; Virus; Immunogenicity; Viral disease; T-Lymphocyte; Human immunodeficiency virus; Virus envelope; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1086/314685

The proliferative responses to a series of peptides constituting the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) gp120 sequence were evaluated in 19 HIV-1-infected rgp160 vaccine recipients, 17 HIV-1-infected rgp120 vaccine recipients, 15 HIV-1-infected placebo recipients, and 18 HIV-1-uninfected controls. Many regions of the gp120 molecule were found to contribute proliferative epitopes, although there were clearly regions of relative dominance and silence. Vaccine recipients tended to have broader, more robust, and more frequent peptide recognition than the placebo recipients. Despite the considerable variability in the pattern of peptide recognition among individuals, there was a striking similarity between the rgp160 and rgp120 vaccinee groups as a whole. Low-risk HIV-1-uninfected individuals may react to a few peptides within the gp120 sequence as well, despite a lack of significant response to the whole gp120 protein.