Citation Information

Honeyborne I, Prendergast A, Pereyra F, Leslie A, Crawford H, Payne R, Reddy S, Bishop K, Moodley E, Nair K, van der Stok M, McCarthy N, Rousseau CM, Addo M, Mullins JI, Brander C, Kiepiela P, Walker BD, Goulder PJ (2007). Control of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 is associated with HLA-B*13 and targeting of multiple gag-specific CD8+ T-cell epitopes. Journal of virology, 81(7), 3667-72. (pubmed)

Abstract

To better understand relationships between CD8+ T-cell specificity and the immune control of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), we analyzed the role of HLA-B13, an allele associated with low viremia, in a cohort of 578 C clade-infected individuals in Durban, South Africa. Six novel B13-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes were defined from analyses of 37 B13-positive subjects, including three Gag epitopes. These B13-restricted epitopes contribute to a broad Gag-specific CD8+ response that is associated with the control of viremia. These data are consistent with data from studies of other HLA-class I alleles associated with HIV control that have shown that the targeting of multiple Gag epitopes is associated with relative suppression of viremia.