title: Identification of novel HLA-A2-restricted human immunodeficiency virus type 1-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte epitopes predicted by the HLA-A2 supertype peptide-binding motif.
abstract: Virus-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses are critical in the control of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection and will play an important part in therapeutic and prophylactic HIV-1 vaccines. The identification of virus-specific epitopes that are efficiently recognized by CTL is the first step in the development of future vaccines. Here we describe the immunological characterization of a number of novel HIV-1-specific, HLA-A2-restricted CTL epitopes that share a high degree of conservation within HIV-1 and a strong binding to different alleles of the HLA-A2 superfamily. These novel epitopes include the first reported CTL epitope in the Vpr protein. Two of the novel epitopes were immunodominant among the HLA-A2-restricted CTL responses of individuals with acute and chronic HIV-1 infection. The novel CTL epitopes identified here should be included in future vaccines designed to induce HIV-1-specific CTL responses restricted by the HLA-A2 superfamily and will be important to assess in immunogenicity studies in infected persons and in uninfected recipients of candidate HIV-1 vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Partners AIDS Research Center and Infectious Disease Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Altfeld
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Livingston
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Reshamwala
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Addo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shea
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fikes
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sidney
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wentworth
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chesnut
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Eldridge
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Robbins
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brander
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Sax
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boswell
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Flynn
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buchbinder
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Goulder
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sette
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kalams
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000276:immunology; D001665:Binding Sites; D002460:Cell Line; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D016336:Gene Products, vpr / Q000276:immunology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D054325:vpr Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D016336:Gene Products, vpr; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D054325:vpr Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus