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Li M, Yuan Y, Li P, Deng Z, Wen Z, Wang H, Feng F, Zou H, Chen L, Tang S, Sun C. Comparison of the Immunogenicity of HIV-1 CRF07_BC Gag Antigen With or Without a Seven Amino Acid Deletion in p6 Region. Front Immunol 2022; 13:850719. [PMID: 35450078 PMCID: PMC9017423 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.850719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2022] [Accepted: 03/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
HIV-1 CRF07_BC-p6Δ7, a strain with a seven amino acid deletion in the p6 region of the Gag protein, is becoming the dominant strain of HIV transmission among men who have sex with men (MSM) in China. Previous studies demonstrated that HIV-1 patients infected by CRF07_BC-p6Δ7 strain had lower viral load and slower disease progression than those patients infected with CRF07_BC wild-type strain. However, the underlying mechanism for this observation is not fully clarified yet. In this study, we constructed the recombinant DNA plasmid and adenovirus type 2 (Ad2) vector-based constructs to express the HIV-1 CRF07_BC Gag antigen with or without p6Δ7 mutation and then investigated their immunogenicity in mice. Our results showed that HIV-1 CRF07_BC Gag antigen with p6Δ7 mutation induced a comparable level of Gag-specific antibodies but stronger CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell immune responses than that of CRF07_BC Gag (07_BC-wt). Furthermore, we identified a series of T-cell epitopes, which induced strong T-cell immune response and cross-immunity with CRF01_AE Gag. These findings implied that the p6Gag protein with a seven amino acid deletion might enhance the Gag immunogenicity in particular cellular immunity, which provides valuable information to clarify the pathogenic mechanism of HIV-1 CRF07_BC-p6Δ7 and to develop precise vaccine strategies against HIV-1 infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minchao Li
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yue Yuan
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Pingchao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health (GIBH), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhaomin Deng
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Ziyu Wen
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Haiying Wang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Research, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Fengling Feng
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Huachun Zou
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Ling Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health (GIBH), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Shixing Tang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Research, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Caijun Sun
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China.,Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control (Sun Yat-Sen University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
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