@article{oai:nagasaki-u.repo.nii.ac.jp:00009474,
 author = {Sriwanthana, Busarawan and Mori, Masahiko and Tanaka, Mari and Nishimura, Sei and Miura, Toshiyuki and Pathipvanich, Panita and Sawanpanyalert, Pathom and Ariyoshi, Koya},
 issue = {7},
 journal = {PLoS ONE},
 month = {Jul},
 note = {Introduction: The design of a globally effective vaccine rests on the identification of epitopes capable of eliciting effective cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses across multiple HIV clades in different populations. This study aims to discern the effect of HLA polymorphisms and the cross-clade reactivity or clade-specificity of epitopes in Thailand where HIV-1 CRF01_AE is circulating. Materials and Methods: 14 peptides based on consensus HIV-1 CRF01_AE amino acid sequences were designed for use in IFN-γ ELISpot assays and 51Cr release assays among 66 HIV-1 CRF01_AE-infected Thai patients. For ELISpot responders carrying HLA alleles currently unknown to restrict CRF01_AE epitopes, in silico epitope-HLA prediction was performed. Results: 29/66 (43.9%) patients recognized at least one peptide. In total 79 responses were seen against all 14 peptides. 28/79 (35.4%) of the responses were in patients with HLA alleles previously reported to restrict CRF01_AE epitopes, 24/79 (30.4%) responses were in individuals with HLA alleles previously reported to restrict epitopes of HIV clades other than CRF01_AE, and the remaining 27/79 (34.2%) responses were not associated with HLA alleles previously known to restrict HIV epitopes. In silico epitope prediction detected 19 novel, epitope-HLA combinations, and 11/19 (57.9%) were associated with HLA-C alleles. We further confirmed a novel HLA restriction of a previously identified HIV-1 Gag epitope [p24 122-130: PPIPVGDIY (PY9)] by HLA-B*40:01 with a standard 51Cr release assay. Discussion: CTL recognition sites in HIV-1 Gag were similar among different clades but the HLA restriction differed in Thai patients. This disparity in HLA restriction along different populations illustrated the importance of clade- and population-specific HLA analysis prior to CTL vaccine design., PLoS ONE, 7(7), e41696; 2012},
 title = {The Effect of HLA Polymorphisms on the Recognition of Gag Epitopes in HIV-1 CRF01_AE Infection},
 volume = {7},
 year = {2012}
}