Identification of peptides from human pathogens able to cross-activate an HIV-1-gag-specific CD4+ T cell clone.
Antigen recognition by T cells is degenerate both at the MHC and the TCR level. In this study, we analyzed the cross-reactivity of a human HIV-1 gag p24-specific CD4(+) T cell clone obtained from an HIV-1-seronegative donor using a positional scanning synthetic combinatorial peptide library (PS-SCL)-based biometrical analysis. A number of decapeptides able to activate the HIV-1 gag-specific clone were identified and shown to correspond to sequences found in other human pathogens. Two of these peptides activated the T cell clone with the same stimulatory potency as the original HIV-1 gag p24 peptide. These findings show that an HIV-1-specific human T helper clone can react efficiently with peptides from other pathogens and suggest that cellular immune responses identified as being specific for one human pathogen (HIV-1) could arise from exposure to other pathogens.
Venturini
Sara
S
Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Allicotti
Gina
G
Zhao
Yindong
Y
Simon
Richard
R
Burton
Dennis R
DR
Pinilla
Clemencia
C
Poignard
Pascal
P
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002999:Clone Cells; D003429:Cross Reactions; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019151:Peptide Library; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D015683:Gene Products, gag; D019151:Peptide Library; D014764:Viral Proteins