title: Fine specificity of the human T-cell response to the hepatitis B virus preS1 antigen.
abstract: The T-cell response to hepatitis B virus envelope antigens was studied in 11 hepatitis B vaccine recipients; 7 were selected to analyze the fine specificity of the T-cell response to the preS1 antigen. Four distinct T-cell epitopes were identified by peripheral blood lymphomononuclear cell stimulation with a panel of short synthetic peptides covering the preS1 sequence. The immunodominance of the preS1 epitopes included within peptides 21-30 and 29-48 was shown by their capacity to restimulate an HLA class II restricted proliferative response of T cells primed with the whole preS1 antigen. Conversely, peptide-specific T cells selected by peripheral blood lymphomononuclear cell stimulation with peptides 21-30 and 29-48 were able to recognize the native preS1 molecule, confirming that these epitopes are actually generated by the intracellular processing of preS1. Finally, amino acid residues essential for T-cell activation by peptide 21-30 were identified using 10 analogues of the stimulatory peptide containing single alanine substitutions. These results may be relevant to the design of efficient synthetic vaccines against hepatitis B virus infection.
authors.affiliation: Cattedra Malattie Infettive, Università di Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cavalli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Penna
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bertoletti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pedretti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pilli
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vitali
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Neri
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Giuberti
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002455:Cell Division; D002460:Cell Line; D000939:Epitopes; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009000:Monocytes / Q000166:cytology; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D006680:HLA Antigens; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D011498:Protein Precursors; C050806:presurface protein 1, hepatitis B surface antigen; D000409:Alanine