BIOACTIVE FRAGMENT OF HUMAN IL-1-BETA[163-171] MODULATES THE IMMUNE-RESPONSE TO SYNTHETIC PEPTIDES OF HIV

The activation of T helper cells specific for viral antigens is critic al for antibody production and the generation of cytotoxic T cells dur ing retroviral infection, In this study, we examined the effect of lin king HIV peptides with a bioactive fragment of human interleukin-1 bet a (IL-1 beta) (163-171) on the induction of immune response to the pep tides. A panel of highly purified synthetic peptides representing defi ned regions of gp41, Gag and gp120 were used as antigens, Mouse spleen cells primed with the peptide conjugates produced greater proliferati on on in vitro stimulation than spleen cells primed with peptide alone , In addition, antibody production as assessed by ELISA was observed a fter immunization with conjugated peptides but not with peptide alone, indicating B-cell activation, We also found that a high level of IgG2 a antibody production correlated with a high level of IFN-gamma produc tion, These findings favor the notion that IL-1 beta plays an importan t role in immune responses, These observations support the formulation and design of synthetic vaccines against HIV using synthetic HIV pept ides conjugated with immunomodulators, Such an approach may provide an effective vaccination against other infectious agents.