Full-length HIV-1 Tat protein necessary for a vaccine.
AIDS vaccines now use a truncated version of 86 residues of the Tat protein related to the HIV-1 HXB2 strain predominant in Europe and North America. We compared antibodies raised in rabbits using a B subtype short Tat HXB2(86) and a full-length Tat HXB2(100). Serum against HXB2(86) recognizes only B and D subtypes while serum against HXB2(100) recognizes B, D, and C subtype variants. Conformational epitopes appear to be involved in the capacity of anti-Tat HXB2 sera to recognized non-homologous Tat variants. A linear B-epitope identified in sequence 71-81 in HXB2(86) disappears in HXB2(100), which has a new linear B-epitope identified at the C-terminus. Anti-HXB2(100) serum has a higher titer in neutralizing antibody against homologous and non-homologous variants compared to anti-HXB2(86) serum. We suggest that a Tat vaccine should contain a Tat variant with regular size, up to 99-101 residues now found in the field.
CNRS FRE 2737, Faculté de Pharmacie, 27 Bd Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France.
Sandrine
S
Opi
Jean-Marie
JM
Péloponèse
Didier
D
Esquieu
Jennifer
J
Watkins
Grant
G
Campbell
Jean
J
De Mareuil
Kuan Teh
KT
Jeang
David L
DL
Yirrell
Pontiano
P
Kaleebu
Erwann P
EP
Loret
D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D015696:Gene Products, tat / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011817:Rabbits; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D000939:Epitopes; D015696:Gene Products, tat; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus