Predictions of linear T‐cell and B‐cell epitopes in proteins encoded by HIV‐1, HIV‐2 and SIVMAC and the conservation of these sites between strains

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Abstract
An important consideration in the design of vaccines to prevent HIV‐1 infection effective against dilterent strains is the amino acid sequence conservation of antigenic determinants. Even one amino acid change can destroy the antigenicity of a site for the antibody or T‐cell receptor. The comparisons of predicted T‐ and B‐cell epitopes between human HIV‐1, HIV‐2 and monkey SIVMAC AIDS viruses are presented. The three major gene products (env,gag and pol) were examined. A number of epitopes were identical between strains of HIV‐1. Our analysis highlights the problem of designing an effective HIV‐1 and HIV‐2 vaccine and also the problem of testing human vaccines in monkey models.