No abstract

The proteasome is a multicatalytic proteinase complex which plays a central role in intracellular protein degradation. We report here the synthesis and biological activities of a new class of specific proteasome inhibitors selective for trypsin-like activity. These tripeptide-based compounds bearing a C-terminal vinyl ester are nontoxic, and do not affect cell proliferation, but are able to modulate the generation and presentation of immunogenic peptides presented by MHC class I molecules.

No abstract

Background: As HIV-specific cytotoxic T cells play a key role during acute and chronic HIV-1 infection in humans, the ability of potential anti-HIV vaccines to elicit strong, broad T cell responses is likely to be crucial. The HIV-1 Gag antigen is widely considered a relevant antigen for the development of an anti-HIV vaccine since it is one of the most conserved viral proteins and is also known to induce T cell responses. In the majority of studies reporting Gag-specific cellular immune responses induced by Gag-based vaccines, only a small number of Gag T cell epitopes were tested in preclinical mouse models, thus giving an incomplete picture of the numerous possible cellular immune responses against this antigen. As is, this partial knowledge of epitope-specific T cell responses directed to Gag will unavoidably result in a limited preclinical evaluation of Gag-based vaccines.