A chain section containing epitopes for cytotoxic T, B and helper T cells within a highly conserved region found in the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Gag protein.

Cell-mediated immune responses constitute a major defense against the spread of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). However, multiple alterations within a particular epitope may accumulate during disease progression, allowing the virus to escape cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Therefore, the best candidate for a peptide vaccine that would prevent the onset of the disease might be a chain section containing epitopes for the generation of CTLs in regions of conserved sequences among different HIV-1 isolates. We previously showed that immunizing mice with synthetic peptides consisting of 23-amino acids (Gag-23mer; 287-309 amino acid residues) in a highly conserved region derived from the major core protein p24 of HIV-1 generates specific CTLs as well as antibodies. Here, we identified one CTL (T-1; 291-300) and two B-cell (B-1; 290-299 and B-2; 300-309) epitopes, all of which consisted of 10 amino acids within the region. In addition, helper T cells primed by the Gag-23mer peptide were proliferated by in vitro stimulation with a 21mer (H-1; 289-309) or a 19mer (H-2; 291-309) peptide, but not with a 17mer peptide (293-309) or 19mer peptide (287-305). Immunization with the H-1 peptide generated an antibody reactive to B-1, but not B-2, whereas that with H-2 generated an antibody reactive to B-2, but not B-1. CTLs were not generated by immunization with these peptides, indicating that the entire sequence of Gag-23mer is the helper epitope for CTLs. Thus, the Gag-23mer is a chain section containing epitopes for cytotoxic T, B and helper T-cells within a highly conserved region of HIV-1 Gag protein.