title: HIV-1 envelope T cell epitope "hotspots " among mice and humans and among CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subpopulations.
abstract: HIV-1-specific T cell responses correlate with control of infection and disease, thus encouraging a full understanding of the peptides and antigen-processing mechanisms that govern T cell activation. We have previously demonstrated that CD4(+) T cell epitopes cluster nonrandomly within envelope protein "hotspot" regions. The current study was initiated to determine whether envelope-specific CD8(+) T cells might share epitope "hotspots" with the CD4(+) T cell population. Identification of CD8(+) T cell determinants by ELISPOT assays with peripheral blood mononuclear cells from four HIV-1-infected individuals, in conjunction with a survey of determinants in the Los Alamos database, revealed similarities among "hotspot" positions for CD4(+) and CD8T(+) cells within mice and humans. These results emphasized the important influence that envelope peptide position may have on antigen processing, and the consequent impact such processing may have on HIV-1-specific CD4(+) and CD8(+) T-cell activities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 332 N. Lauderdale, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.forename: Julia L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hurwitz
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Karen S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Slobod
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000276:immunology*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; D010446:Peptide Fragments