@article {542796, title = {Functional equivalency of B7-1 and B7-2 for costimulating plasmid DNA vaccine-elicited CTL responses.}, journal = {J Immunol}, volume = {165}, number = {12}, year = {2000}, month = {2000 Dec 15}, pages = {6791-5}, abstract = {A costimulatory signal in addition to an Ag-specific stimulus is required for optimal activation of T lymphocytes. CD28, the primary positive costimulatory receptor on T cells, has two identified ligands, B7-1 and B7-2. Whether B7-1 and B7-2 have identical, overlapping, or distinct functions remains unresolved. In this study, we show that mice lacking B7-2 were unable to generate CTL responses following immunization with a plasmid DNA vaccine. The ability of these B7-2-deficient mice to generate CTL responses following plasmid gp120 DNA vaccination was fully reconstituted by coadministering either a plasmid expressing B7-2 or B7-1. Moreover, the ability to generate CTL responses following plasmid DNA vaccination in mice lacking both B7-1 and B7-2 could be reconstituted by administering either plasmid B7-1 or plasmid B7-2 with the vaccine construct. These data demonstrate that either B7-1 or B7-2 administered concurrently with a plasmid DNA vaccine can fully costimulate vaccine-elicited CTL responses. Functional differences between B7-1 and B7-2 observed in vivo therefore may not reflect inherent differences in the interactions of CD28 with these ligands.}, keywords = {Adjuvants, Immunologic, AIDS Vaccines, Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Antigens, CD, Antigens, CD80, Antigens, CD86, Cytotoxicity, Immunologic, Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic, Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte, HIV Envelope Protein gp120, HIV-1, Injections, Intramuscular, Kinetics, Lymphocyte Activation, Membrane Glycoproteins, Mice, Mice, Inbred BALB C, Mice, Knockout, Molecular Sequence Data, Plasmids, T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic, Vaccines, DNA}, issn = {0022-1767}, author = {Santra, S and Barouch, D H and Jackson, S S and Kuroda, M J and Schmitz, J E and Lifton, M A and Sharpe, A. H. and Letvin, N L} }