HIV-1 gp41 by a common immunological epitope induces increased levels of antibodies against human interferon-beta in HIV-1 positive individuals.
Based on our finding that a similar epitope exists between human IFN-beta (aa128-134) and HIV-1 gp41 (aa586-595), we examined 20 sera from healthy and 20 from HIV-1 infected individuals for IFN-beta antibody levels by ELISA. The levels of anti-IFN-beta antibody in sera from HIV-infected individuals were increased by about 160% in comparison with HIV-negative. We affinity-purified anti-gp41 antibodies from sera of HIV-1-infected individuals using rsgp41-sepharose column. One of three antibodies could recognize human IFN-beta in comparison with antibodies from serum of a healthy individual. A mouse antiserum to human IFN-beta recognized rsgp41 (recombinant soluble gp41 Env amino acid 539-684), while the normal mouse serum (pre-immune serum) did not bind to rspg41. These results indicate that a common immunological epitope exists between human IFN-beta and HIV-1 gp41. The sequence-similarity suggests that this common immunological epitope may be located in the region aa128-134 of human IFN-beta and the immunosuppressive domain (aa583-599) of HIV-1 gp41. The increased levels of antibodies against interferon-beta in HIV-1 positive individuals may be explained by a common immunological epitope on human IFN-beta and HIV-1 gp41.
Department of Biological Science and Biotechnology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Y H
YH
Chen
J N
JN
Feng
G
G
Stöckl
K
K
Hu
M P
MP
Dierich
D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D003429:Cross Reactions; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41 / Q000276:immunology*; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016899:Interferon-beta / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data
D000906:Antibodies; D000939:Epitopes; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41; D016899:Interferon-beta