title: Virus-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocyte activity associated with control of viremia in primary human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection.
abstract: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Env-, Gag-, Pol-, Nef-, and Tat-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activities were quantitated temporally in five patients with symptomatic primary HIV-1 infection. A dominant CD8(+)-mediated, major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted CTL response to the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein, gp160, was noted in four of the five patients studied. The level of HIV-1-specific CTL activity in the five patients paralleled the efficiency of control of primary viremia. Patients who mounted strong gp160-specific CTL responses showed rapid reduction of acute plasma viremia and antigenemia, while in contrast, primary viremia and antigenemia were poorly controlled in patients in whom virus-specific CTL activity was low or undetectable. These results suggest that HIV-1-specific CTL activity is a major component of the host immune response associated with the control of virus replication following primary HIV-1 infection and have important implications for the design of antiviral vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropharmacology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Borrow
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lewicki
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Oldstone
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D015686:Gene Products, env / Q000276:immunology*; D015488:HIV Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D019302:HIV Envelope Protein gp160; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000276:immunology*; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D014766:Viremia / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D015686:Gene Products, env; D015488:HIV Antigens; D019302:HIV Envelope Protein gp160; D010455:Peptides; D011498:Protein Precursors