Recognition of conserved regions by CTL responses in persons with chronic HIV-1 infection.

A panel of 54 persons (from the Los Angeles area) with chronic HIV-1 infection and not receiving antiretroviral treatment was screened for HIV-1-specific CTL responses by IFN-γ ELISpot assays using overlapping peptides spanning each protein. Gag-specific responses were screened using peptides based on clade B consensus and strain DU422 sequences. Env-specific responses were screened using peptides based on clade B consensus or strain MN sequences. Nef-specific responses were screened using peptides based on clade B consensus sequence. The presence or absence of detectable viremia is indicated in the second column; these individuals were biased towards slow progressors due to recruitment selection for being untreated. Recognized peptides that fall entirely within each conserved region are indicated by NIH AIDS Reagent Repository catalog number. The minimal number of epitopes recognized by each person is listed in the last column (assuming that consecutive overlapping peptides contain a single epitope).

本研究纳入洛杉矶地区54名慢性HIV-1感染且未接受抗逆转录病毒治疗的受试者，采用覆盖各病毒蛋白的重叠肽段，通过干扰素-γ酶联免疫斑点试验（IFN-γ ELISpot）筛选HIV-1特异性细胞毒性T淋巴细胞（Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte, CTL）应答。针对Gag蛋白（Group-specific antigen, Gag）特异性应答的筛选，采用基于B亚型共识序列及DU422毒株序列设计的肽段完成；针对Env蛋白（Envelope glycoprotein, Env）特异性应答的筛选，采用基于B亚型共识序列或MN毒株序列设计的肽段完成；针对Nef蛋白（Negative regulatory factor, Nef）特异性应答的筛选，采用基于B亚型共识序列设计的肽段完成。第二列标注了受试者可检测病毒血症的存在与否；由于招募时仅选择未接受治疗的受试者，该队列偏重于病毒缓慢进展者。完全位于各保守区域内的已知肽段，将通过美国国立卫生研究院艾滋病试剂库（NIH AIDS Reagent Repository）的目录编号标注。最后一列列出了每位受试者识别的表位最小数量（假设连续重叠的肽段仅包含一个表位）。