title: Host-dependent serum specificity to the V3 domain of HIV-1.
abstract: The previous studies of anti-HIV-1 humoral immune response have found the stable individual structural bias in the antibody production that reflects the changes in the immune functional network caused by HIV-1. The correlation between antigen structure, in particular the V3 domain of HIV-1, and the serum specificity to the structure remains unclear. To clarify the role of host individual factors in the serum specificity, we used the slightly modified HIV-1 serotyping methodological approach for the sera of the patients infected with HIV-1 with a different level of genetic similarity. Substantial discrepancy between serum specificities and antigen structure was found. Patients infected with HIV-1 carrying similar and identical V3 sequences had significantly different serum specificities. The opposite situation was often observed as well. The results of the study suggest that the influence of the V3 loop structure in the development of humoral immune response to the V3 loop is substantially modified in a patient-specific manner.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Retrovirology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a.nabatov@amc.uva.nl
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Nabatov
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Masharsky
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Verevochkin
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Emelyanov
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Kozlov
mesh_terms: D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000276:immunology; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007106:Immune Sera / Q000276:immunology*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D017385:Sequence Homology
chemical_list: D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; C059762:HIV envelope protein gp120 (305-321); D007106:Immune Sera; D010446:Peptide Fragments