Characterization of Tat antibody responses in Chinese individuals infected with HIV-1

PLoS One. 2013;8(4):e60825. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0060825. Epub 2013 Apr 2.

Abstract

HIV-1 Tat is an important regulatory protein involved in AIDS pathogenesis. However, the immunoprofiles of anti-Tat responses remain unclear. We analysed the immunoprofiles of the anti-Tat antibody responses and the neutralizing activities. Out of 326 HIV-1-seropositive individuals, 12.9% were positive for anti-Tat antibodies. We found six different immunological profiles of anti-Tat antibody responses: full-potential response, combined response, N-specific response, C-specific response, full-length Tat-specific response and Tat-related response. These responses represent two types of anti-Tat responses: the major complete response and the alternative C-prone response. A Tat-neutralizing activity is significantly higher in anti-Tat-seropositive samples than anti-Tat-negative or healthy blood-donor samples, and significantly correlates with the anti-Tat reactivities. The data here could contribute to a better understanding of the significance of anti-Tat responses in preventing HIV pathogenesis and could be useful for designing more effective vaccines in the future.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antibody Formation / immunology
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Female
  • Gene Products, tat / immunology*
  • HIV Infections / immunology
  • HIV-1 / immunology*
  • HIV-1 / pathogenicity*
  • Humans
  • Male

Substances

  • Gene Products, tat

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [Grant numbers 30972632 and 30872405], the Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology [08JC1405200], the Chinese National Key Special Project for the Prevention and Control of Major Infectious Diseases [2009ZX10104-105] and the Chinese National Key Special Project for Major New Drug Discovery [2011ZX09506-001]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.