PMID- 9820146
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 19981207
LR  - 20061115
IS  - 0022-1317 (Print)
IS  - 0022-1317 (Linking)
VI  - 79 ( Pt 11)
DP  - 1998 Nov
TI  - The neutralizing antibody response against a conserved region of human 
      immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp41 (amino acid residues 731-752) is uniquely 
      directed against a conformational epitope.
PG  - 2709-16
AB  - Amino acids 731-752 (731PRGPDRPEGIEEEGGERDRDRS752) of the transmembrane 
      glycoprotein gp41 of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) are conserved in 
      most virus isolates and are controversially reported to be implicated in virus 
      neutralization. The humoral response in infected patients against this region is 
      poor and humans immunized with gp160 show high levels of antibodies against the 
      peptide but poor neutralization titres. Nonetheless, several groups have 
      succeeded in obtaining neutralizing antibodies against this sequence using 
      different antigen-presenting systems. In order to identify the sequence(s) 
      against which the neutralizing response was generated, we used the flock house 
      virus (FHV) antigen-presenting system to analyse neutralizing antisera from mice 
      immunized with a cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) chimera expressing the 731-752 
      sequence. Data show that the neutralizing response is uniquely directed against a 
      conformational epitope mapping to the ERDRD portion of this sequence, although 
      the major antibody response, which is non-linear, and is not neutralizing, is 
      against an IEEE epitope. These results provide an explanation for the controversy 
      regarding the immunogenicity of this region of gp41 and suggest that this 
      conformational epitope, in the absence of the non-neutralizing epitope, should be 
      considered for a subunit vaccine. In addition, this study highlights the 
      usefulness of antigen-presenting systems that preserve epitope conformation in 
      the investigation of immune responses.
FAU - Buratti, E
AU  - Buratti E
AD  - International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Padriciano, 
      Trieste, Italy.
FAU - McLain, L
AU  - McLain L
FAU - Tisminetzky, S
AU  - Tisminetzky S
FAU - Cleveland, S M
AU  - Cleveland SM
FAU - Dimmock, N J
AU  - Dimmock NJ
FAU - Baralle, F E
AU  - Baralle FE
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - England
TA  - J Gen Virol
JT  - The Journal of general virology
JID - 0077340
RN  - 0 (Antibodies, Viral)
RN  - 0 (HIV Envelope Protein gp41)
RN  - 0 (Immunodominant Epitopes)
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Antibodies, Viral/*immunology
MH  - Antibody Specificity
MH  - HIV Envelope Protein gp41/chemistry/*immunology
MH  - HIV-1/*immunology
MH  - Humans
MH  - Immunodominant Epitopes/*chemistry/immunology
MH  - Mice
MH  - Protein Conformation
EDAT- 1998/11/20 00:00
MHDA- 1998/11/20 00:01
CRDT- 1998/11/20 00:00
PHST- 1998/11/20 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 1998/11/20 00:01 [medline]
PHST- 1998/11/20 00:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1099/0022-1317-79-11-2709 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Gen Virol. 1998 Nov;79 ( Pt 11):2709-16. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-79-11-2709.