Premium
New Epitope Peptides Derived from Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) 2a Which Have the Capacity to Induce Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes in HLA‐A2 + HCV‐Infected Patients
Author(s) -
Wang Yi,
Takao Yukari,
Harada Mamoru,
Yutani Shigeru,
Ide Tatsuya,
Sata Michio,
Itoh Kyogo,
Yamada Akira
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2006.tb03861.x
Subject(s) - epitope , cytotoxic t cell , ctl* , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , virology , human leukocyte antigen , biology , cd8 , hepatitis c virus , cytotoxicity , immunotherapy , immunology , peptide , virus , antigen , microbiology and biotechnology , immune system , in vitro , biochemistry
Because cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) play an important role in the specific immunotherapy of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, a series of CTL epitopes has been defined from HCV genotype 1a or 1b protein. Here, we attempted to identify HCV2a‐derived epitopes that are capable of inducing HLA‐A2‐restricted and peptide‐specific CTLs. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of HLA‐A2 + HCV2a‐infected patients or healthy donors were stimulated in vitro with each of the HCV2a‐derived peptides, which were prepared based on the HLA‐A2‐binding motif, and their peptide‐specific and HLA‐A2‐restricted cytotoxicities were examined. The HCV2a 432–441, HCV2a 716–724, and HCV2a 2251–2260 peptides were found to efficiently induce peptide‐specific CTLs from the PBMCs of HLA‐A2 + HCV2a‐infected patients. Cytotoxicity was mainly mediated by CD8 + T cells in a HLA class I‐restricted manner. These results indicate that the HCV2a 432–441, HCV2a 716–724, and HCV2a 2251–2260 peptides might be applicable for peptide‐based immunotherapy of HLA‐A2 + HCV2a‐infected patients.