title: 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.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Virology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, University of Rome "La Sapienza," Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buttò
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fiorelli
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tripiciano
authors.forename: Maria J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Alvarez
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scoglio
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ensoli
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciccozzi
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Collacchi
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sabbatucci
authors.forename: Aurelio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cafaro
authors.forename: Carlos A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Guzmán
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borsetti
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caputo
authors.forename: Eftyhia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vardas
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Colvin
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lukwiya
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rezza
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ensoli
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D015696:Gene Products, tat; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus