Antigenic evidence of the presence of the aberrant HIV-1ANT70 virus in Cameroon and Gabon

Abstract

The search for an effective vaccine against HIV-1 is of major importance. Some promising research has been conducted on the V3 loop peptides of HIV-1 in chimpanzees. In this article are reported the results of a research project on the prevalence of sera collected from HIV-1 positive people in Cameroon Gabon Ivory Coast and Kenya which are reactive to a genetically divergent HIV-1 V3 peptide isolate (ANT70) and peptides obtained from 3 other HIV-1 isolates. A total of 895 serum samples were tested using the V3-peptide enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). 40 HIV-1 seronegative sera 10 from each country were used as negative controls. Overall 88% (787/895) of the sera reacted with the V3 loop of MN peptide 246 (27%) sera reacted with the MAL peptide and 53% (471/895) reacted with the Z6 peptide component of the V3 loop. A total of 14 (14/895) sera (9 from Cameroon and 5 from Gabon) reacted with the ANT70 peptide ELISA. The authors suggest that their results should prompt further investigation in mapping antigenic diversity in Africa and that this knowledge is necessary in the development of an HIV-1 vaccine.