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.
Kutubuddin
M
M
Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
Simons
J
J
Chow
M
M
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