Characterization of Tat Antibody Responses in Chinese Individuals Infected with HIV-1 |
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| Authors: | Qiuli Chen Lan Li Wenting Liao Hongwei Zhang Jinhong Wang Bo Sheng Huaqun Zhang Xiaojie Huang Yingying Ding Tong Zhang Jie Cao Hao Wu Wei Pan |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Microbiology, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.; 2. Center for Infectious Diseases, Beijing You’an Hospital, Beijing, China.; 3. College of High Altitude Military Medicine, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.; University of South Carolina School of Medicine, United States of America, |
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| 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. |
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