thesis
Lentivirus Vaccine Development: Antigen presentation by Salmonella and iscom
- Publication date
- 29 October 1997
- Publisher
- Human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-I and HIV-2), the causative
agents of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in humans, are members
of the Lentivirinae subfamily of the Retroviridae family. The lentivirus
subfamily also includes related members from other species, like monkeys
(simian immunodeficiency viruses [SIV]), cats (feline immunodeficiency viruses
[FIV]), and the ungulates sheep, goats, horses and cattle.
Mature lentiviruses are spherical to ellipsoid particles with a diameter of
approximately 100 nm consisting of a lipid envelope surrounding a cone shaped
core (Gelderblom et al 1989) (Fig. I). In HIV-I the core is formed by a 24 kd
capsid protein (p24). It contains two identical strands of positive-sense genomic
RNA closely associated with the nucleocapsid proteins (p7 and p9) and several
copies of the reverse transcriptase. A membrane associated matrix protein p 17 is
situated between the core and the envelope. In the envelope a 41 kd
transmembrane glycoprotein (gp41) is anchored. The transmembrane protein is
non-covalently attached to the 120 kd surface glycoprotein (gpI20). The other
lentiviruses have a similar structure, with slightly different molecular weights of
their proteins.