We have established long-term cultures of several cell lines stably and uniformly expressing human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in order to (a) identify naturally processed HIV-1 peptides recognized by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) from HIV-1-seropositive individuals and (b) consider the hypothesis that naturally occurring epitope densities on HIV-infected cells may limit their lysis by CTL. Each of two A2-restricted CD8+ CTL specific for HIV-1 gag or reverse transcriptase (RT) recognized a single naturally processed HIV-1 peptide in trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) extracts of infected cells: gag 77-85 (SLYNTVATL) or RT 476-484 (ILKEPVHGV). Both processed peptides match the synthetic peptides that are optimally active in cytotoxicity assays and have the consensus motif described for A2-associated peptides. Their abundances were approximately 400 and approximately 12 molecules per infected Jurkat-A2 cell, respectively. Other synthetic HIV-1 peptides active at subnanomolar concentrations were not present in infected cells. Except for the antigen processing mutant line T2, HIV-infected HLA-A2+ cell lines were specifically lysed by both A2-restricted CTL, although infected Jurkat-A2 cells were lysed more poorly by RT-specific CTL than by gag-specific CTL, suggesting that low cell surface density of a natural peptide may limit the effectiveness of some HIV-specific CTL despite their vigorous activity against synthetic peptide-treated target cells.
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October 01 1994
Naturally processed viral peptides recognized by cytotoxic T lymphocytes on cells chronically infected by human immunodeficiency virus type 1.
T J Tsomides,
T J Tsomides
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
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A Aldovini,
A Aldovini
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
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R P Johnson,
R P Johnson
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
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B D Walker,
B D Walker
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
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R A Young,
R A Young
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
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H N Eisen
H N Eisen
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
Search for other works by this author on:
T J Tsomides
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
A Aldovini
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
R P Johnson
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
B D Walker
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
R A Young
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
H N Eisen
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
Online ISSN: 1540-9538
Print ISSN: 0022-1007
J Exp Med (1994) 180 (4): 1283–1293.
Citation
T J Tsomides, A Aldovini, R P Johnson, B D Walker, R A Young, H N Eisen; Naturally processed viral peptides recognized by cytotoxic T lymphocytes on cells chronically infected by human immunodeficiency virus type 1.. J Exp Med 1 October 1994; 180 (4): 1283–1293. doi: https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.180.4.1283
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