Warren R Q, Wolf H, Zajac R A, Boswell R N, Kanda P, Kennedy R C
Department of Virology and Immunology, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, Texas 78284.
J Clin Immunol. 1991 Jan;11(1):13-21. doi: 10.1007/BF00918790.
We examined sera from 160 HIV-infected individuals for antibodies reactive to HIV-1 gp160 epitopes defined by seven synthetic peptides. Seropositive individuals were placed into three groups based upon levels of circulating CD4+ cells. These groups consisted of individuals with (1) more than 400 CD4+ cells, (2) 200-400 CD4+ cells, and (3) fewer than 200 CD4+ cells/mm3. The percentage of sera containing antibodies reactive with two immunodominant gp160 epitopes (a.a. 304-321 and 600-611) was unchanged between groups, regardless of CD4 cell numbers. The percentage of sera containing antibodies reactive with weakly immunogenic gp160 epitopes, such as those defined by peptides 425-448 and 846-860, declined in the groups as CD4 values decreased. Our results suggest that the patterns of antibody reactivity to gp160 epitopes change as CD4 levels decline. A narrowing of the humoral immune response to epitopes on the envelope of HIV-1 appears to occur with disease progression.
我们检测了160名HIV感染者的血清，以寻找与7种合成肽所定义的HIV-1 gp160表位发生反应的抗体。血清反应呈阳性的个体根据循环CD4+细胞水平被分为三组。这些组包括：（1）CD4+细胞超过400个的个体；（2）CD4+细胞为200 - 400个的个体；（3）CD4+细胞少于200个/mm3的个体。无论CD4细胞数量如何，各组中含有与两个免疫显性gp160表位（氨基酸304 - 321和600 - 611）发生反应的抗体的血清百分比没有变化。随着CD4值降低，各组中含有与弱免疫原性gp160表位（如由肽425 - 448和846 - 860所定义的表位）发生反应的抗体的血清百分比下降。我们的结果表明，随着CD4水平下降，对gp160表位的抗体反应模式会发生变化。随着疾病进展，对HIV-1包膜上的表位的体液免疫反应似乎会变窄。
