COMPARISON OF HIV-1 ENVELOPE-SPECIFIC CD4(-CELL LINES SIMULTANEOUSLY ESTABLISHED FROM PERIPHERAL-BLOOD MONONUCLEAR-CELLS AND LYMPH-NODE BIOPSY IN HIV-1-INFECTED INDIVIDUALS() T)

HIV-1 envelope-specific CD4(+) T cell lines were established simultane ously from PBMC and lymph node mononuclear cells of two HIV-1-infected patients. Three recombinant envelope proteins were used to establish the CD4(+) T cell lines: gp160NL4-3, gp120IIIB, and gp120MN. Six T cel l lines were established from the first patient, one for each Ag from each compartment, and four T cell lines, two per compartment, were est ablished from the second patient, Each line was challenged with a pane l of overlapping peptides spanning the entire gp120 sequence to define its T cell epitope specificity. The pattern of recognition for all th e lines from any given patient was similar between compartments, Each patient had a different pattern of peptide recognition, TCR analysis s howed a heterogeneous usage of V beta between lines with same peptide specificity and established from different compartments. These data su ggest that the cellular immune response does not phenotypically vary b etween the peripheral blood and lymph node compartments, but demonstra tes genotypic heterogeneity, showing possible redundancy of the immune response to HIV-1 gp160.