Unexpected diversity of cellular immune responses against Nef and Vif in HIV-1-infected patients who spontaneously control viral replication.

Background: HIV-1-infected individuals who spontaneously control viral replication represent an example of successful containment of the AIDS virus. Understanding the anti-viral immune responses in these individuals may help in vaccine design. However, immune responses against HIV-1 are normally analyzed using HIV-1 consensus B 15-mers that overlap by 11 amino acids.