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Identification of a potent synthetic HIV1 immunogen compromising gag‐P24 tandem T‐ and B‐cell epitopes
Author(s) -
Chong Pele,
Sia Charles,
Sydor Margret,
Klein Michel
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(90)80255-h
Subject(s) - immunogen , epitope , antibody , peptide , context (archaeology) , t cell , group specific antigen , immune system , virology , adjuvant , antigen , in vitro , b cell , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biology , monoclonal antibody , virus , immunology , biochemistry , paleontology
Recent studies indicate that the gag gene products may play a crucial role in the immune response against HIV infection since clinical progression to AIDS is associated with a reduction in the level of circulating antibodies to gag p 24 and antibodies raised against p 17 peptide can inhibit HIV1 infection in vitro. Using conventional structure prediction algorithms for T‐cell and B‐cell epitopes, we have selected and chemically synthesized several gag peptides. In particular, an unconjugated HIV1‐p 24 peptide containing both B‐ and T‐cell epitopes in tandem plus Freund's adjuvant induced a strong antibody response in both mice and rabbits against p 24 and its precursor p 55 as judged by immunoblotting. In addition, the peptide presented in the appropriate MHC context was shown to be highly stimulatory for p 24 specific murine T‐cell clones.