title: Design and evaluation of optimized artificial HIV-1 poly-T cell-epitope immunogens.
abstract: A successful HIV vaccine in addition to induction of antibody responses should elicit effective T cell responses. Here we described possible strategies for rational design of T-cell vaccine capable to induce high levels of both CD4+ and CD8+ T- cell responses. We developed artificial HIV-1 polyepitope T-cell immunogens based on the conserved natural CD8+ and CD4+ T cell epitopes from different HIV-1 strains and restricted by the most frequent major human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles. Designed immunogens contain optimized core polyepitope sequence and additional "signal" sequences which increase epitope processing and presentation to CD8+ and CD4+ T-lymphocytes: N-terminal ubiquitin, N-terminal signal peptide and C-terminal tyrosine motif of LAMP-1 protein. As a result we engineered three T cell immunogens - TCI-N, TCI-N2, and TCI-N3, with different combinations of signal sequences. All designed immunogens were able to elicit HIV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses following immunization. Attachment of either ubiquitin or ER-signal/LAMP-1 sequences increased both CD4+ and CD8+ mediated HIV-specific T cell responses in comparison with polyepitope immunogen without any additional signal sequences. Moreover, TCI-N3 polyepitope immunogen with ubiquitin generated highest magnitude of HIV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses in our study. Obtained data suggests that attachment of signal sequences targeting polyepitope immunogens to either MHC class I or MHC class II presentation pathways may improve immunogenicity of T-cell vaccines. These results support the strategy of the rational T cell immunogen design and contribute to the development of effective HIV-1 vaccine.
authors.affiliation: State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector", Koltsovo, Novosibirsk region, 630559, Russia.
authors.forename: Alena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reguzova
authors.affiliation: State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector", Koltsovo, Novosibirsk region, 630559, Russia.
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Antonets
authors.affiliation: State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector", Koltsovo, Novosibirsk region, 630559, Russia.
authors.forename: Larisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Karpenko
authors.affiliation: State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector", Koltsovo, Novosibirsk region, 630559, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ilyichev
authors.affiliation: State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector", Koltsovo, Novosibirsk region, 630559, Russia.
authors.forename: Rinat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maksyutov
authors.affiliation: State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector", Koltsovo, Novosibirsk region, 630559, Russia.
authors.forename: Sergei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bazhan
mesh_terms: D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000276:immunology; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic