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Intrapatient escape in the A*0201-restricted epitope SLYNTVATL drives evolution of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 at the population level.

Edwards CT, Pfafferott KJ, Goulder PJ, Phillips RE, Holmes EC

Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

The hypothesis that the intrapatient emergence of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte escape variants contributes to the evolution of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 at the population (interpatient) level was tested using the HLA-A*0201-restricted gag p17 epitope SLYNTVATL. Using a simple experimental design, we investigated the evolutionary processes operating within this epitope among patients while compensating for the confounding influence of intrapatient natural selection. Using this approach, we revealed a pattern of A*0201-driven escape within patients, followed by the sustained transmission of these escape variants among patients irrespective of their HLA type.

Published 4 July 2005 in J Virol, 79(14): 9363-6.
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