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Journal of Virology, March 2007, p. 2887-2898, Vol. 81, No. 6
0022-538X/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.01547-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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Department of Medicine III, University Hospital Erlangen, Krankenhausstr. 12, 91054 Erlangen, Germany,1 Institute of Clinical and Molecular Virology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany,2 Institute of Biochemistry, Emil-Fischer-Center, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany,3 German Competence Network on HIV/AIDS4
Received 19 July 2006/ Accepted 21 December 2006
To determine the influence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-specific CD8+ T cells on the development of drug resistance mutations in the HIV-1 protease, we analyzed protease sequences from viruses from a human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA class I)-typed cohort of 94 HIV-1-positive individuals. In univariate statistical analyses (Fisher's exact test), minor and major drug resistance mutations as well as drug-associated polymorphisms showed associations with HLA class I alleles. All correlations with P values of 0.05 or less were considered to be relevant without corrections for multiple tests. A subset of these observed correlations was experimentally validated by enzyme-linked immunospot assays, allowing the definition of 10 new epitopes recognized by CD8+ T cells from patients with the appropriate HLA class I type. Several drug resistance-associated mutations in the protease acted as escape mutations; however, cells from many patients were still able to generate CD8+ T cells targeting the escape mutants. This result presumably indicates the usage of different T-cell receptors by CD8+ T cells targeting these epitopes in these patients. Our results support a fundamental role for HLA class I-restricted immune responses in shaping the sequence of the HIV-1 protease in vivo. This role may have important clinical implications both for the understanding of drug resistance pathways and for the design of therapeutic vaccines targeting drug-resistant HIV-1.
Published ahead of print on 3 January 2007.
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