Effect of site-specific de-glycosylation on HIV gp120-specific CD4 T cell responses

Background Virus specific CD4+ T helper response is critical for maintenance of effective immunity against chronic viral infections. Vigorous HIV-specific T cell responses were found associated with control of viremia in HIV infected individuals. However, in most of the HIV infected individuals, virus specific CD4+ T cell responses are very low or undetectable. While the virus envelope is a critical target for the immune responses, this antigen is poorly immunogenic, especially for CD4+ T cells. One of the possible reasons is the heavy glycosylation of the envelope glycoproteins. In this study, we examined the effects of site-specific de-glycosylation on the presentation of gp120 antigen to the CD4+ T cells.