title: Epitopes recognized by HIV-SF2 nef-specific CD4+ T-cell clones generated from HIV-1-uninfected donors.
abstract: Human T-cell clones with specificity to the HIV-1 nef protein were generated by the in vitro stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from HIV-1-seronegative donors with purified nef from the HIV-SF2 isolate produced in genetically engineered yeast. Here the characterization is described of a total of seven discrete clones derived from five different donors. Each clone was CD3+ CD4+ CD8- as determined by FACS analysis. The epitopes recognized by these clones were identified using synthetic overlapping peptides spanning the entire length of nef. Six discrete helper T-cell epitopes located in five distinct regions of nef were identified by this approach. Three of these epitopes are more than 80% conserved among all HIV-1 nef proteins for which sequence data are available. The remaining epitopes are in regions of nef that vary among isolates. Many of the epitopes recognized by our clones overlap T-cell epitopes identified by others examining T-cell responses to nef in HIV-1-infected patients and immunized animals. Using partially class II-matched EBV-transformed B-cell lines, we were able to identify five different HLA class II alleles which encode restricting elements for the in vitro nef-specific proliferative response of these clones (DR1, DRw15(2), DRw6, DQw7, DP5).
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, Chiron Corporation, Emeryville, CA 94608.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Wentworth
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bathurst
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Feucht
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Erlich
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Steimer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000276:immunology; D003429:Cross Reactions; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics; D015693:Gene Products, nef / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018023:HIV Seronegativity / Q000276:immunology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D054311:nef Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D015693:Gene Products, nef; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D054311:nef Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus