HIV-specific CD8 T cells (CTL) specifically recognize and kill virus-infected cells because infected cells display at their surface HIV epitopes loaded onto MHC-I molecules.

The intracellular degradation of HIV proteins into epitopes –called HIV antigen processing- is a multistep process involving multiple peptidases in several subcellular compartments.Eventually peptides are loaded onto MHC-I and presented to CTL. Therefore the steps leading to epitope presentation are critical to the priming and activation of HIV-specific immune responses during HIV infection.

Very little is known about how HIV proteins are degraded into epitopes and how the efficiency of epitope processing relates to the phenotype and antiviral functions of the corresponding CTL responses.

Furthermore HIV viral mutations may alter the processing and presentation of epitopes and eventually the recognition of infected cells by CTL.

Finally as efficient HIV vaccines aim at eliciting CTL responses with strong antiviral capacity, it is therefore necessary to understand how to design immunogens from which protective epitopes will be selectively and optimally presented.

Laboratories which focus on Antigen Processing:
		Le Gall Lab