Early viral escape driven by an HLA-A2-restricted response against HIV-Nef. The interactions between viral evolution (within all defined targeted epitopes), anti-HIV-specific CTL responses, and viral load, was followed in subject OP177.

AEstimated week from infection. B The HXB2 sequence is given as a reference with the HLA-A2 restricted epitopes AL9 and VL10 indicated with an unbroken line in bold face letters, the HLA-B40 restricted epitope KL9 with a dotted line, and the HLA-B15 restricted WF9 epitope with double lines. C The frequency of each clone is given as a number of the total number of clones sequenced with the major autologous sequence at each time-point given in bold face letters. DThe autologous CTL responses are given for each peptide tested. The viral variant that generates the strongest CTL response at each time-point are indicated in bold face letters.