Sequence conservation and antibody cross-recognition of clade B human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 Tat protein in HIV-1-infected Italians, Ugandans, and South Africans.
We determined immune cross-recognition and the degree of Tat conservation in patients infected by local human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 strains. The data indicated a similar prevalence of total and epitope-specific anti-Tat IgG in 578 serum samples from HIV-infected Italian (n=302), Ugandan (n=139), and South African (n=137) subjects, using the same B clade Tat protein that is being used in vaccine trials. In particular, anti-Tat antibodies were detected in 13.2%, 10.8%, and 13.9% of HIV-1-infected individuals from Italy, Uganda, and South Africa, respectively. Sequence analysis results indicated a high similarity of Tat from the different circulating viruses with BH-10 Tat, particularly in the 1-58 amino acid region, which contains most of the immunogenic epitopes. These data indicate an effective cross-recognition of a B-clade laboratory strain-derived Tat protein vaccine by individuals infected with different local viruses, owing to the high similarity of Tat epitopes.
Buttò
Stefano
S
Laboratory of Virology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, University of Rome "La Sapienza," Rome, Italy.
Fiorelli
Valeria
V
Tripiciano
Antonella
A
Ruiz-Alvarez
Maria J
MJ
Scoglio
Arianna
A
Ensoli
Fabrizio
F
Ciccozzi
Massimo
M
Collacchi
Barbara
B
Sabbatucci
Michela
M
Cafaro
Aurelio
A
Guzmán
Carlos A
CA
Borsetti
Alessandra
A
Caputo
Antonella
A
Vardas
Eftyhia
E
Colvin
Mark
M
Lukwiya
Matthew
M
Rezza
Giovanni
G
Ensoli
Barbara
B
D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D003429:Cross Reactions; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D005260:Female; D015696:Gene Products, tat / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013019:South Africa; D014454:Uganda; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D015696:Gene Products, tat; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus