Study on specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses in HIV/AIDS patients
Objective To investigate the HIV specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte response in HIV/AIDS patients of China. Methods A panel of 94 overlapping peptides, spanning the entire P17 Gag, P24 Gag, P15 Gag were used as antigen. We examined the HIV-1 specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses of Chinese HIV/AIDS patients by IFN-γ ELISPOT assay. Results HIV-1 antigen peptides P17-15, P17-16, P24-7, P17-8 and P24-28 were more frequently recognized by the HIV-1 specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte. The magnitude and breadth of the CTL responses were much higher in HIV carriers than those in AIDS patients. Conclusion There were HIV-1 specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses directly against different HIV-1 Gag peptides in Chinese HIV/AIDS patients, and the responses were correlated with disease progress.