Figure 6.

Fusion of Gagp24 to p62 results in increased number of Gagp24-reactive T cells in mice. BALB/c mice were immunized once by intradermal injection on the left and right flank with 25 μl of 12.5 μg DNA plasmids encoding Gagp24 or p62–Gagp24 before electroporation. Splenocytes were harvested after 5 (A) or 18 (B) weeks and subjected to IFNγ-ELISpot for enumeration of IFNγ-producing Gagp24-reactive T cells toward peptides spanning Gagp24. The peptides were 15-mers and were divided in pools 1–5, each pool containing 9–12 peptides. Pool 1 consisted of peptides spanning amino acid 125–183 of Gag polyprotein precursor; pool 2, amino acid 173–231; pool 3, amino acid 221–279, pool 4, amino acid 269–327; and pool 5, amino acid 317–363. Mean values with SEM are shown, week 5: n = 3–6 mice/group and week 18: n = 7 mice/group. P-values were calculated by two-tailed t-test.