title: An immunological comparison between lipidated and non-lipidated multivalent HIV-1 peptides representing Gp120 and Gag hypervariable regions.
abstract: Despite the extensive efforts towards development of an effective HIV vaccine, major challenges surrounding vaccine design still exist. We have previously developed a unique multivalent HIV-1 candidate vaccine representing hypervariable Gp120 and Gag regions. This candidate vaccine was able to induce a broad cell-mediated immune response in HLA-A2.1 mice and non-human primates against HIV-1 subtypes A-F. Herein, the reactivity of each hypervariable peptide mixture within our candidate peptide vaccine was further characterized to optimize the final vaccine formulation for the future clinical studies. The binding of each hypervariable region to sera from HIV-infected individuals demonstrated a strong reactivity between the antibodies and hypervariable regions. In addition, 15 groups of mice were immunized with adjuvant alone or each individual peptide mixture (lipidated or non-lipidated) to evaluate the ability of each variable region to induce humoral and cellular immune responses against HIV-1. A reactive HIV-1 specific immune response was detected among the immunized groups; however, mice receiving the Gag hypervariable regions demonstrated the highest frequency of cell-mediated immune responses.
authors: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Ottawa, 451 Smyth Rd., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1H 8M5.
authors: Haitham
authors: H
authors: Ghunaim
authors: Ashok
authors: A
authors: Kumar
authors: Jose
authors: J
authors: Torres
authors: Francisco
authors: F
authors: Diaz-Mitoma
authors: Ali
authors: A
authors: Azizi
mesh_terms: D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007106:Immune Sera / Q000276:immunology; D055666:Lipopeptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D015683:Gene Products, gag; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D007106:Immune Sera; D055666:Lipopeptides; D010455:Peptides