Priming of CD4⁺ T cells specific for conserved regions of human immunodeficiency virus glycoprotein gp120 in humans immunized with a recombinant envelope protein

A nonglycosylated denatured form of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) 1 glycoprotein gp120 (Env 2-3), which does not bind to CD4, was used with muramyl tripeptide as adjuvant to immunize HIV-seronegative healthy volunteers. In all the volunteers, three 50-μg injections of Env 2-3 induced priming of CD4⁺ T cells specific for conserved regions of the native glycosylated gp120. Moreover, we found that several major histocompatibility complex class II (DR) alleles can function as restriction molecules for presentation of conserved epitopes of gp120 to T cells, implying that a T-cell response to these epitopes can be obtained in a large fraction of the population. The possibility to prime CD4⁺ T cells specific for conserved epitopes of a HIV protein is particularly important in view of the lack of such cells in HIV-infected individuals and of a possible role that CD4⁺ T cells may play in the development of protective immunity against AIDS.