title: Predictive B- and T-cell linear epitopes in structural proteins of HTLV-I, HTLV-II, and STLV-I.
abstract: The primary amino acid sequences derived from the gag, pol, and env gene products of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) and type II (HTLV-II) and the env protein of simian T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (STLV-I) were aligned and computer algorithms were used to predict B- and T-cell epitopes. Structural B- and T-cell motifs that showed amino acid sequence conservation of antigenic determinants in HTLV-I, HTLV-II, and STLV-I, as well as different antigenic determinants of HTLV-I and HTLV-II, were identified. Several of these B and T epitopes have been shown experimentally to be immunodominant and two of the B epitopes have been used for type-specific serology. These predictive epitopes provide a guide to develop improved diagnostic assays and for the development of potential subunit vaccines for HILV-I and HTLV-II.
authors.affiliation: Retrovirus Diseases Branch, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA 30333.
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Lal
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Griffis
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D015686:Gene Products, env / Q000276:immunology; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000276:immunology; D015684:Gene Products, pol / Q000276:immunology; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology*; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000276:immunology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D015303:Simian T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D015686:Gene Products, env; D015683:Gene Products, gag; D015684:Gene Products, pol; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins