P. Borrow et al., VIRUS-SPECIFIC CD8-LYMPHOCYTE ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH CONTROL OF VIREMIA IN PRIMARY HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1 INFECTION( CYTOTOXIC T), Journal of virology, 68(9), 1994, pp. 6103-6110
Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Env-, Gag-, Pol-, Nef-, an
d Tat-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activities were quantitate
d temporally in five patients with symptomatic primary HIV-1 infection
. A dominant CD8(+)-mediated, major histocompatibility complex class I
-restricted CTL response to the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein, gp160, wa
s noted in four of the five patients studied. The level of HIV-1-speci
fic CTL activity in the five patients paralleled the efficiency of con
trol of primary viremia. Patients who mounted strong gp160-specific CT
L responses showed rapid reduction of acute plasma viremia and antigen
emia, while in contrast, primary viremia and antigenemia were poorly c
ontrolled in patients in whom virus-specific CTL activity was low or u
ndetectable. These results suggest that HIV-1-specific CTL activity is
a major component of the host immune response associated with the con
trol of virus replication following primary HIV-1 infection and have i
mportant implications for the design of antiviral vaccines.