The pigtail macaque MHC class I allele Mane-A*10 presents an immunodominant SIV Gag epitope: Identification, tetramer development and implications of immune escape and reversion

Abstract

The pigtail macaque (Macaca nemestrina) is a common model for the study of AIDS. The pigtail major histocompatibility complex class I allele Mane-A*10 restricts an immunodominant simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) Gag epitope (KP9) which rapidly mutates to escape T cell recognition following acute simian/human immunodeficiency virus infection. Two technologies for the detection of Mane-A*10 in outbred pigtail macaques were developed: reference strand-mediated conformational analysis and sequence-specific primer polymerase chain reaction. A Mane-A*10/K-P9 tetramer was then developed to quantify CD8+ T lymphocytes primed by multigenic DNA vaccination, which have previously been difficult to d..