Conserved epitopes dominate cross‐CD8+ T‐cell responses against influenza A H1N1 virus among Asian populations. Issue 8 (14th June 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Jun; Wu, Bin; Zhang, Shihong; Tan, Shuguang; Sun, Yeping; Chen, Zhujun; Qin, Yuanfang; Sun, Mingwei; Shi, Guoli; Wu, Ying; Sun, Meiyi; Liu, Na; Ning, Kaida; Ma, Ying; Gao, Bin; Yan, Jinghua; Zhu, Fengcai; Wang, Hua; Gao, George F.
• Is Part Of: European journal of immunology. Volume 43:Issue 8(2013:Aug.)
• Page Start: 2055
• Page End: 2069
• Publication Date: 2013-06-14
• Subjects: Immunology -- Periodicals; 616.079
• DOI: 10.1002/eji.201343417
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0014-2980

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Novel strains of influenza A viruses (IAVs) have emerged with high infectivity and/or pathogenicity in recent years, causing worldwide concern. T cells are correlated with protection in humans through cross‐reactive immunity against heterosubtypes of IAV. However, the different hierarchical roles of IAV‐derived epitopes with distinct levels of polymorphism in the cross‐reactive T‐cell responses against IAV remain elusive. In this study, immunodominant epitopes scattered throughout the entire proteome of 2009 pandemic influenza A H1N1 virus and seasonal IAVs were synthesized and divided into different pools depending on their conservation. The overall profile of the IAV‐specific CD8<sup>+</sup> T‐cell immunity was detected by utilizing these peptide pools and also individual peptides. A dominant role of the conserved peptide‐specific T‐cell immunity was illuminated within the anti‐IAV responses, while the CD8<sup>+</sup> T‐cell responses against the variable epitopes were lower than the conserved peptides. As previously demonstrated within a Caucasian population, we determined that GL9‐specific T cells, which also utilize Vβ 17 TCR (BV19), play a pivotal role in IAV‐specific T‐cell immunity within an HLA‐A2<sup>+</sup> Asian population. Our study objectively reveals the different predominant roles of T‐cell epitopes among IAV‐specific cross‐reactive cellular immunity. This may guide the development of vaccines with cross‐T‐cell immunogenicity against heterosubtypes of IAV.</p> </abstract>