Fine specificity of the humoral immune response to HIV‐1 GP160 in HIV‐1 infected individuals from tanzania

A total of 160 sera from HIV‐1 infected individuals from Tanzania were examined for their fine specificity characteristics relative to 9 synthetic peptides that define HIV‐1 gp160 epitopes. Immunorecessive and immunodominant epitopes were identified in both gp120 and gp41 based on serologic reactivity of these HIV‐1 infected sera. A significant difference in fine specificity among HIV‐1 infected individuals from Tanzania and the United States was observed for an immunodominant gp41 epitope. No significant differences in reactivity among asymptomatic vs. symptomatic HIV‐1 infected individuals were detected for the selected HIV‐1 gp160 epitopes defined by these peptides. The majority of sera from HIV‐1 infected Tanzanians contained antibodies that recognized a peptide corresponding to the V3 region of gp120 from the HIV‐1 MN isolate. These data suggest that regional isolates of HIV‐1 may exist in Tanzania that differ from HIV‐1 isolated in the United States. However, based on serology, HIV‐1 isolates exhibiting sequences with HIV‐1 MN V3 similarity may also be prevalent in Tanzania. The results of this study may be useful for the design of more effective AIDS diagnostic and therapeutic products for use worldwide. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.