Thanks for the follow up!
No evidence yet that human analogs are immunogenic. Doing new experiment to find out.
Yes! Using human version of the peptide for the new experiment. The NOG mouse model we are using will not infect with HIV - hence the in-vitro arm - I realize that humanized mice do exist that we could infect - we may try that later. Looking to take CD8/CD4 cells from vaccinated mice. Infect the (isolated) CD4 cells, combine and follow p24.
Re not knowing if the human analogs are immunogenic yet: An alternative way to to answer your question would be to identify a T cell receptor (TCR) clone that recognizes your peptides of interest. There are several ways of identifying TCR clones that match your peptide of interest. Probably the best way is via phage display. The advantages here are manifold:
1. By identifying a human TCR you immediately prove that your peptide is recognized by the human immune system (immunogenic)--you still need to do a bit more work to show that the immune system will produce this antibody in response to your peptide--but that's a pretty good start.
2. You could perform phage display separately on TCRs from elite controllers and more susceptible patients. The differences in these TCRs would likely make for a very interesting academic publication.
3. You could make a TCR-like antibody based on this TCR. If your vaccination strategy failed, hey at least now you have an antibody you can take into trials!
This is what makes rgejman's phage display comments so interesting. We already know two major populations (Hiv-1 and Hiv-2 exist).