Different abilities of escape mutant-specific cytotoxic T cells to suppress replication of escape mutant and wild-type human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in new hosts.
There is much evidence that in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected individuals, strong cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated immune pressure results in the selection of HIV-1 mutants that have escaped from wild-type-specific CTLs. If escape mutant-specific CTLs are not elicited in new hosts sharing donor HLA molecules, the transmission of these mutants results in the accumulation of escape mutants in the population. However, whether escape mutant-specific CTLs are definitively not elicited in new hosts sharing donor HLA molecules still remains unclear. A previous study showed that a Y-to-F substitution at the second position (2F) of the Nef138-10 epitope is significantly detected in HLA-A*2402(+) hemophilic donors. Presently, we confirmed that this 2F mutant was an escape mutant by demonstrating strong and weak abilities of Nef138-10-specific CTL clones to suppress replication of the wild-type and 2F mutant viruses, respectively. We demonstrated the existence of the 2F-specific CTLs in three new hosts who had been primarily infected with the 2F mutant. The 2F-specific CTL clones suppressed the replication of both wild-type and mutant viruses. However, the abilities of these clones to suppress replication of the 2F virus were much weaker than those of wild-type-specific and the 2F-specific ones to suppress replication of the wild-type virus. These findings indicate that the 2F mutant is conserved in HIV-1-infected donors having HLA-A*2402, because the 2F-specific CTLs failed to completely suppress the 2F mutant replication and effectively prevented viral reversion in new hosts carrying HLA-A*2402.
Fujiwara
Mamoru
M
Division of Viral Immunology, Center for AIDS Research, Kumamoto University, 2-2-1 Honjo, Kumamoto 860-0811, Japan.
Tanuma
Junko
J
Koizumi
Hirokazu
H
Kawashima
Yuka
Y
Honda
Kazutaka
K
Mastuoka-Aizawa
Saori
S
Dohki
Sachi
S
Oka
Shinichi
S
Takiguchi
Masafumi
M
D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D059871:HLA-A24 Antigen; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D054311:nef Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
D000939:Epitopes; D015234:HLA-A Antigens; C438506:HLA-A*24:02 antigen; D059871:HLA-A24 Antigen; D054311:nef Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; C514837:nef protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1