Important note: Information in this article was accurate in September 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
HIV/AIDS Pathogenesis: MHC-I alleles linked to slow HIV progression bind dominant CTL epitopes during acute infection
AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, September 22, 2003 Staff Medical Writers
NewsRx -- MHC-I alleles linked to slow HIV progression bind dominant CTL epitopes during acute infection."Certain major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) alleles are associated with delayed disease progression in individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and in macaques infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)," scientists in the United States explained. "However, little is known about the influence of these MHC alleles on acute-phase cellular immune responses."D.H. O'Connor and colleagues at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center examined "51 animals infected with SIVmac239" in their study.The investigators uncovered "a dramatic association between Mamu-A*01 and -B*17 expression and slowed disease progression.""We show that the dominant acute-phase cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses in animals expressing these alleles are largely directed against two epitopes restricted by Mamu-A*01 and one epitope restricted by Mamu-B*17," according to the report. "One Mamu-A*01-restricted response (Tat(28-35)SL8) and the Mamu-B*17-restricted response (Nef(165-173)IW9) typically select for viral escape variants in early SIVmac239 infection. Interestingly, animals expressing Mamu-A*1 and -B*17 have less variation in the Tat(28-35)SL8 epitope during chronic infection than animals that express only Mamu-A*01.""Our results show that MHC-I alleles that are associated with slow progression to AIDS bind epitopes recognized by dominant CTL responses during acute infection and underscore the importance of understanding CTL responses during primary HIV infection," the researchers concluded.O'Connor and coauthors published their study in the Journal of Virology (Major histocompatibility complex class I alleles associated with slow simian immunodeficiency virus disease progression bind epitopes recognized by dominant acute-phase cytotoxic-T-lymphocyte responses. J Virol. 2003 Aug;77(16):9029-40.For more information, contact D.I. Watkins, Department of Pathology, 1300 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, USA.Publisher contact information for the Journal of Virology is: American Society for Microbiology, 1752 N St. NW, Washington, DC 20036-2904, USA.The information in this article comes under the major subject areas of AIDS & HIV and Immunology.This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.Reference
O'Connor DH, Mothe BR, Weinfurter JT, et al., "Major histocompatibility complex class I alleles associated with slow simian immunodeficiency virus disease progression bind epitopes recognized by dominant acute-phase cytotoxic-T-lymphocyte responses", J Virol. 2003 Aug;77(16):9029-40.
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Important note: Information in this article was accurate in September 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
