NUCLEIC ACID FRAGMENTS DERIVED FROM THE GENOME OF HIV-1 VIRUS, CORRESPONDING PEPTIDES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS AS REAGENTS FOR ASSESSING THE RISK OF MATERNAL-FETAL TRANSMISSION OF HIV-1

摘要

New nucleic acid fragments, derived from the gene encoding part of the p17 HIV-1 matrix protein, contains 21-90 nucleotides (nt) and includes at least the sequence (I): Y5Y6Y7Y8Y9Y10Y11 (I) Y5=AAA, AAG or GAA; Y6=ATA, TTA, CTG, GTA, CTA, GTG or ATG; Y7=GAG or GAA; Y8=GAA or AAG; Y9=ATA, GTA, CTA, GAA, GAG, GAC, GAT or AGA; Y10=CAA, CAG or CGA; Y11=AAA, AGT, AAG, AAT, CAT, AAC or ACC; provided that when Y5=AAA or AAG then Y6 is not ATA, Y7 is not GAG or GAA, Y8 is not GAA, Y9 is not GAG or GAA, Y10 is not CAA or CAG and Y11 is not AAT or AAC. Also new are: (1) peptides of 7-30 amino acids (aa) including at least aa 103-109 of p17 of formula (II): X2X3GluX4X5X6X7 (II) X2 and X4=Lys or Glu; X3=Ile, Leu, Val or Met; X5=Ile, Val, Glu, Arg or Leu; X6=Gln or Arg; X7=Lys, Ser, Asn, His or Thr; provided that when X2=Lys then X3 is not Ile, X4 and X5 are not Glu, X6 is not Gln and X7 is not Asn; and (2) antibodies (Ab) raised against (II) or the analogue with X2=Lys, X3=Ile, X4=X5=Glu, X6=Gln and X7=Asn.