High-avidity, high-IFNγ-producing CD8 T-cell responses following immune selection during HIV-1 infection.

ABSTRACT: HIV-1 mutations, which reduce or abolish CTL responses against virus-infected cells, are frequently selected in acute and chronic HIV infection. Among population HIV-1 sequences, immune selection is evident as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele-associated substitutions of amino acids within or near CD8 T-cell epitopes. In these cases, the non-adapted epitope is susceptible to immune recognition until an escape mutation renders the epitope less immunogenic. However, several population-based studies have independently identified HLA-associated viral changes, which lead to the formation of a new T-cell epitope, suggesting that the immune responses that these variants or 'neo-epitopes' elicit provide an evolutionary advantage to the virus rather than the host. Here, we examined the functiona

SUBMITTER: Keane NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3173576 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature