Abstract
The definition of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) immunogenic epitopes is central to the rational design of AIDS vaccine strategies. In this study, we have generated seven HIV-1 reverse transcriptase-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) clones from the peripheral blood of two seropositive subjects. Epitopes recognized by these CTL clones were identified by using target cells infected with recombinant HIV-1 - vaccinia virus vectors expressing truncated reverse transcriptase proteins and further defined by using target cells incubated with overlapping 25-amino acid synthetic reverse transcriptase peptides. Five different CTL epitopes were identified, and in each case recognition was restricted by class I human leukocyte antigens (HLA). Clones maintained specific cytolytic function in continuous culture for up to 11 months, requiring only periodic restimulation with a CD3-specific monoclonal antibody. These results indicate that HIV-1-specific, major histocompatibility class I-restricted CTL recognize multiple epitopes of a single viral gene product in conjunction with different host HLA antigens. In addition, they demonstrate that human virus-specific CTL can be grown in long-term culture without the need for reexposure to viral antigen.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 9514-9518 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 86 |
Issue number | 23 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1989 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- AIDS
- cell-mediated immunity
- immunogenic viral epitopes
- reverse transcriptase
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General