Figure 8. Impact of deleting the BALB/c immunodominant gp120 epitope V11V on Gag-specific CD8⁺ T cell immune responses.

BALB/c mice (n = 6 per group) were i.m. inoculated with (i) equimolar amounts of the indicated plasmid DNA construct (57 µg of ^MGag, gp120, gp120^ΔV11V), (ii) an equimolar mixture of ^MGag and gp120, or (iii) an equimolar mixture of ^MGag and gp120^ΔV11V. After 12 days, spleen cells were isolated and tested for specific cellular immune responses by measuring IFNγ production after stimulation with Gag (black) or Env (hatched) specific peptides. IFNγ production was determined using FACS analysis after intracellular staining of IFNγ. Cell culture medium served as negative control. Data shown are representative of two experiments.