title: HIV antigen-reactive T cells detected by antigen-induced interferon gamma secretion.
abstract: The T cell repertoire to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was studied in HIV-infected patients of different clinical stages by the detection and enumeration of cells that secreted interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) in short-term cultures of blood mononuclear cells after stimulation in vitro with the HIV recombinant antigens pB1, p121, p24-15, gp160bac, and the HIV V3 loop peptide. T cell reactivities to cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis-purified protein derivative (PPD) were examined in parallel. Among 29 patients with HIV infection, 48% had blood cells recognizing one or more of the five HIV antigens. The mean numbers of HIV antigen-reactive T cells varied between 1/approximately 6000 blood cells for pB1 and 1/approximately 20,000 cells for p24-15. None of the five HIV antigens studied was identified as an immunodominant T cell epitope in HIV infection. T cells from 20% of the patients responded to all five HIV antigens in parallel, but the antigen preferentially recognized varied from patient to patient. Those with more advanced disease had a tendency to lower numbers of HIV antigen-reactive T cells. Most HIV-infected patients had both CMV- and PPD-reactive T cells, but numbers were significantly lower in more advanced disease. It should be possible to adopt the present method to evaluate fine specificities of the T cell repertoire to other antigens and to study the involvement of other cytokines besides IFN-gamma, for example, the Th2 cell-related cytokine interleukin 4.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, National Bacteriological Laboratory, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lolli
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Sundqvist
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Link
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Holmberg
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wahren
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000276:immunology; D015488:HIV Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D015488:HIV Antigens; D007371:Interferon-gamma