Mapping of immunodominant epitopes of the HIV-1 and HIV-2 integrase proteins by recombinant proteins and synthetic peptides.

Different parts of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and type 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2) integrase proteins were expressed as TrpE fusion proteins in Escherichia coli and used to screen human sera. In the immunoblot, all HIV/integrase-positive human sera tested reacted with the carboxy-terminal third of the integrase protein. Furthermore, they crossreacted with the same part of the heterologous protein.