title: Analysis of autoantibodies to T-cell receptors among HIV-infected individuals: epitope analysis and time course.
abstract: Individuals seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) express elevated levels of autoantibodies (AAbs) directed against recombinant T-cell receptors (TCRs) and synthetic peptide epitopes duplicating beta chain markers. We performed longitudinal studies of anti-TCR AAbs in HIV-1-infected individuals, making comparisons with uninfected sera and sera from other individuals infected with a nonviral agent. We determined levels of autoantibodies by titration using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and developed a means for characterizing "autoantibody CDR recognition spectrotypes" for individual sera. Antibody levels against certain defined synthetic epitopes were substantially elevated in HIV-infected subjects relative to reactivities by control groups. Individual sera showed relatively high AAb levels to a subset of CDR1 peptide epitopes. Two patients who subsequently developed AIDS showed particular reactivity to Vbeta2.1, 8.1, 10.1, and 22.1 epitopes. Our results show that production AAbs to TCR Vbeta epitopes is a general consequence of HIV infection. The response is individual but shows some restriction and shifts in AAb subpopulations often occur with time.
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85724, USA.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Marchalonis
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Ampel
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Schluter
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Garza
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Lake
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Galgiani
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Landsperger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000276:immunology*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D000939:Epitopes; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D010455:Peptides; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D011994:Recombinant Proteins