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Exact prediction of a natural T cell epitope
Author(s) -
Rötzschke Olaf,
Falk Kirsten,
Stevanovic Stefan,
Jung Günther,
Walden Peter,
Rammensee HansGeorg
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
european journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.272
H-Index - 201
eISSN - 1521-4141
pISSN - 0014-2980
DOI - 10.1002/eji.1830211136
Subject(s) - epitope , major histocompatibility complex , biology , computational biology , t cell , antigen , mhc class i , ovalbumin , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , immune system
Abstract T lymphocytes recognize their antigen as peptides associated with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. Peptides naturally presented by MHC class I molecules are uniform in length and have a specific motif, both defined by the respective MHC allele (Falk, K. et al. Nature 1991. 351: 290). These allele‐specific motifs should allow exact prediction of natural T cell epitopes. H‐2K b ‐restricted epitopes, for example, have a length of eight amino acid residues and conserved anchor residues at positions 5 and 8. According to this information, we predicted the natural K b ‐restricted epitope of ovalbumin, thought to be contained in the 19‐mer IINFEKLTEWTSSNVMEER, to be SIINFEKL. Here we show that this prediction is correct. Thus, exact prediction of natural T cell epitopes is possible.