Evaluating potential T-cell epitope peptides for detecting HIV-specific T cell responses in a highly diverse HIV-1

Marcel Tongo1,2,3, Catherine Riou1, Eléonore Crunchant1

  • 1Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, Division of Medical Virology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

AIDS (London, England)
|February 26, 2015
PubMed

HIV genetic diversity is a major obstacle for vaccine development. To define whether potential T-cell epitope (PTE) peptide usage improves the detection of T cell responses in a highly diverse HIV-1 epidemic, we compared the magnitude, breadth and depth of group M PTE peptide responses to consensus M peptides in Gag and Nef proteins. Gag PTE responses were detected at a higher magnitude, more Nef PTE responses were detected at a cohort (but not individual) level and depth was detected in both Gag and Nef responses.

Related Concept Videos