Rowland-Jones S, Dong T, Krausa P, Sutton J, Newell H, Ariyoshi K, Gotch F, Sabally S, Corrah T, Kimani J, MacDonald K, Plummer F, Ndinya-Achola J, Whittle H, McMichael A
Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford, U.K.
Dev Biol Stand. 1998;92:209-14.
HIV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) are believed to play a major role in controlling virus levels through the asymptomatic period of HIV infection. For the rational design of an HIV vaccine, we need to know whether protective immunity can ever develop following HIV exposure in people who remain uninfected. We have detected HIV-specific CTL in 5/6 repeatedly exposed, persistently seronegative female sex-workers in The Gambia. Their CTL, repeatedly detected over two years, recognise epitopes presented by HLA-B35 which are cross-reactive between HIV-1 & HIV-2, suggesting they could have been primed first by HIV-2 exposure and subsequently boosted by exposure to HIV-1. Using previously identified clade B HIV-1 epitope peptides, we have now detected HIV-specific CTL in 6/15 highly exposed and apparently HIV-resistant Kenyan prostitutes, predominantly towards epitopes highly conserved between B and the Kenyan A & D clades of HIV-1. This CTL activity towards conserved virus epitopes may represent protective immunity to HIV generated in response to repeated exposure, and prophylactic HIV vaccines should aim to generate similar CTL responses.
据信，HIV特异性细胞毒性T淋巴细胞（CTL）在通过HIV感染的无症状期控制病毒水平方面发挥着主要作用。为了合理设计HIV疫苗，我们需要了解在未感染的人群中，接触HIV后是否能够产生保护性免疫。我们在冈比亚6名反复接触HIV但持续血清阴性的女性性工作者中检测到了5例HIV特异性CTL。她们的CTL在两年多的时间里被反复检测到，识别由HLA - B35呈递的表位，这些表位在HIV - 1和HIV - 2之间具有交叉反应性，这表明她们可能首先因接触HIV - 2而被致敏，随后因接触HIV - 1而得到增强。使用先前鉴定的B亚型HIV - 1表位肽，我们现在在15名高度接触且明显具有HIV抗性的肯尼亚妓女中检测到了6例HIV特异性CTL，主要针对B亚型与肯尼亚A和D亚型HIV - 1之间高度保守的表位。这种针对保守病毒表位的CTL活性可能代表了对反复接触HIV产生的保护性免疫，预防性HIV疫苗应旨在产生类似的CTL反应。
