Immunization with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 rgp120(W61D) in QS21/MPL adjuvant primes T cell proliferation and C-C chemokine production to multiple epitopes within variable and conserved domains of gp120(W61D)

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) gp120(W61D)-specific T cell lin es (TCL) were generated from an HIV-1-seronegative volunteer who received r gp120(W61D) in QS21/MPL adjuvant with emulsion. TCL were challenged with po ols of consecutive, overlapping peptides spanning the gp120(W61D) sequence and then with the individual peptides of the immunostimulatory pool. T cell epitopes were found within both variable and conserved domains, and there was no evidence of a single immunodominant epitope, The two most frequently recognized peptides were located in the C1 domain and in the C-terminal re gion of the V3 loop. Several TCL were shown to recognize multiple peptides from nonoverlapping regions. Peptides from both conserved and variable doma ins were capable of inducing MIP-1 alpha, MIP-1 beta, and RANTES production . When tested against the equivalent peptide from the HIV-1(IIIB) sequence, however, TCL were able to tolerate only minor conserved changes in the ami no acid sequence.