Identification of T-helper epitopes in the VP1 capsid protein of poliovirus.
Poliovirus-specific T lymphocytes were isolated from virus-immunized mice of different H-2 haplotypes. Immunological characterization of this population indicates that the effector population involved in the observed poliovirus-specific proliferative response was that of CD4-positive T-helper cells. Proliferative responses also were induced within these T-lymphocyte populations upon stimulation with either purified VP1 capsid protein or VP1 synthetic peptides. By using these synthetic peptides, several T-helper epitopes were identified. Generally, proliferative responses were observed in three regions of VP1. Two regions spanning VP1 residues 86 to 120 and 201 to 241 were recognized by T lymphocytes from BALB/c (H-2d), C57BL/6 (H-2b), and C3H/HeJ (H-2k) backgrounds. Analyses using synthetic peptides of nonoverlapping sequences indicated that the region spanning residues 201 to 241 may contain several T epitopes and may account for the strong proliferative response observed. In addition, for two of the three haplotypes examined, T epitopes were observed within residues 7 to 24 of VP1. Additional epitopes which appeared to be restricted to specific H-2 backgrounds were identified. T epitopes within VP1 that are common between different strains of mice appeared to lie within previously identified neutralizing antigenic sites in poliovirus.
Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
M
M
Kutubuddin
J
J
Simons
M
M
Chow
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002213:Capsid / Q000276:immunology*; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017955:Poliovirus / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology*
D036022:Capsid Proteins; D000939:Epitopes; C442540:VP1 protein, Poliovirus