Cross-reactive CD8+ T cell epitopes identified in US adolescent minorities.
Vaccines designed to bring forth CD8+ T cell responses in different racial and ethnic groups will require inclusion of T cell epitopes presented by various MHC class I molecules. This study was designed to identify new CD8+ T cell epitopes in HIV-infected African American and Hispanic youth as well as to determine the frequency of responses to both novel and previously described HIV-1 epitopes in a cohort of racially and ethnically diverse individuals. We found 8 MHC class I-restricted CD8+ T cell epitopes that had not been previously described, another 8 epitopes that were restricted by class I alleles not previously associated with these epitopes, and 8 additional epitopes that have been described previously. In a larger cohort, we demonstrated that 11 (69%) of these 16 newly described immunogens were recognized by individuals of different race or ethnicity. Most HIV-1-specific CD8+ T cell epitopes identified were either novel or restricted by alternative MHC class I alleles. Frequent recognition of several of these CTL epitopes in persons of diverse racial backgrounds bodes well for the development of a broadly reactive HIV-1 vaccine.
Sabbaj
Steffanie
S
Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294, USA. sabbaj@uab.edu
Bansal
Anju
A
Ritter
G Douglas
GD
Perkins
Christopher
C
Edwards
Bradley H
BH
Gough
Ethan
E
Tang
Jianming
J
Szinger
James J
JJ
Korber
Bette
B
Wilson
Craig M
CM
Kaslow
Richard A
RA
Mulligan
Mark J
MJ
Goepfert
Paul A
PA
D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000276:immunology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002460:Cell Line; D003429:Cross Reactions; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D005260:Female; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte