Peptide serology for analysis of the inter- and intra-individual variation in the HIV-1 V3 domain.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether the specificity of antibody responses to the gp120 V3 domain in HIV-1-infected individuals is related to the variability of this region.


METHODS
Sera from a cohort of 22 HIV-1-infected Ugandans were tested against peptides derived from each individual's autologous proviral V3 apex sequence. Autologous peptide reactivity was compared with reactivity to peptides derived from two Ugandan consensus sequences and previously isolated US/European and African viruses. Peptides from individuals with heterogeneous V3 apex sequences, representing different HIV-1 variants, were obtained and tested against the corresponding sera.


RESULTS
A notable cross-reactivity to different V3 apex peptides was observed. However, in the majority of sera, antibody reactivity to the autologous peptides was found to exceed reactivity to any of the other peptides tested. V3 proviral sequences from the Ugandan cohort studied have been shown to be closely related to the HIV-1MN isolate and thus, their sera gave better reactivity to V3MN and related peptides than to peptides representing other African HIV-1 isolates. In individuals with heterogeneous V3 proviral sequences, we could distinguish divergent antibody responses to the genomic variants differing by single amino acids.


CONCLUSIONS
Analysis of seroreactivity to peptides might constitute a relevant tool for investigating the variability of the HIV-1 gp120 V3 domain within infected populations and single individuals.
Department of Immunology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
M
M
Jansson
B
B
Wahren
J
J
Albert
G
G
Scarlatti
L
L
Franzén
P K
PK
Kataaha
E
E
Katabira
F
F
Mubiro
H
H
Wigzell
P
P
Rossi
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000940:Antigenic Variation; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000276:immunology*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology*; D014454:Uganda
D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; C059762:HIV envelope protein gp120 (305-321); D010446:Peptide Fragments