Non-synonymous Substitutions in HIV-1 GAG Are Frequent in Epitopes Outside the Functionally Conserved Regions and Associated With Subtype Differences.

ABSTRACT: In 2019, 38 million people lived with HIV-1 infection resulting in 690,000 deaths. Over 50% of this infection and its associated deaths occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa. The West African region is a known hotspot of the HIV-1 epidemic. There is a need to develop an HIV-1 vaccine if the HIV epidemic would be effectively controlled. Few protective cytotoxic T Lymphocytes (CTL) epitopes within the HIV-1 GAG (HIV_gagconsv) have been previously identified to be functionally conserved among the HIV-1 M group. These epitopes are currently the focus of universal HIV-1 T cell-based vaccine studies. However, these epitopes' phenotypic and genetic properties have not been observed in natural settings for HIV-1 strains circulating in the West African region. This information is critical as the usefulnes

SUBMITTER: Olusola BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7829476 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature