CROSS-REACTIVE CYTOTOXIC T-LYMPHOCYTES INDUCED BY V3 LOOP SYNTHETIC PEPTIDES FROM DIFFERENT STRAINS OF HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1

Recent efforts at understanding the immune response generated against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have focused on cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated recognition of HIV antigens. CTLs are a m ajor immune defense mechanism and are necessary for the recovery of ma ny viral infections. We have previously developed a method for screeni ng synthetic peptides for the ability to induce virus-specific major h istocompatability complex-restricted CTLs in mice. Using this method, we now report the identification of peptides from the vs region in gp1 20 of seven different HIV-1 strains that are capable of inducing a vir us-specific CD8(+) CTL response in vivo. V3 peptides from MN and SC st rains of HIV-1, which are representative of typical strains found in N orth America and Europe, induced CTLs that exhibited crossreactivity a gainst a broad range of HIV-1 strains. In addition, immunization of mi ce with a mixture of these vs peptides resulted in efficient CTL respo nses directed against the corresponding HIV-1 strains. These data, tog ether with information in the literature describing the CTL epitope na ture of vs peptide from HIV-1 IIIB in the context of several HLA allel es, indicate the possibility of including V3 synthetic peptides as com ponents of potential vaccines for inducing broadly crossreactive CTL r esponse against a diverse array of HIV-1 strains. (C) 1995 Academic Pr ess, Inc.