Conserved HIV‐1 Epitopes Continuously Elicit Subdominant Cytotoxic T‐Lymphocyte Responses

Conserved HIV-1 epitopes continuously elicit subdominant cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses.

BACKGROUND The epitope specificities and antiviral activities of class I HLA-restricted CD8(+) T cells, especially those induced during human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) primary infection, are important considerations in designing HIV-1 vaccines. Conserved epitopes may be more commonly and persistently recognized than variable epitopes, as they may be more likely to be present in infe...

Identification of Novel Subdominant Epitopes

Protective cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses induced by DNA immunization against immunodominant and subdominant epitopes of Listeria monocytogenes are noncompetitive.

Taking advantage of the fact that plasmid DNA encoding a single cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitope can induce CTLs, we examined the influence of T-cell responses to dominant epitopes on those to a subdominant epitope derived from Listeria monocytogenes. Our data suggest that interaction between T cells against dominant and subdominant epitopes does not operate in the generation of the hierarc...

Cytotoxic T cell responses to multiple conserved HIV epitopes in HIV-resistant prostitutes in Nairobi.

Many people who remain persistently seronegative despite frequent HIV exposure have HIV-specific immune responses. The study of these may provide information about mechanisms of natural protective immunity to HIV-1. We describe the specificity of cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses to HIV in seronegative prostitutes in Nairobi who are apparently resistant to HIV infection. These women have had fre...

Chimeric Rhinoviruses Displaying MPER Epitopes Elicit Anti-HIV Neutralizing Responses

BACKGROUND The development of an effective AIDS vaccine has been a formidable task, but remains a critical necessity. The well conserved membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of the HIV-1 gp41 glycoprotein is one of the crucial targets for AIDS vaccine development, as it has the necessary attribute of being able to elicit antibodies capable of neutralizing diverse isolates of HIV. METHODOL...