title: The preS1 antigen of hepatitis B virus is highly immunogenic at the T cell level in man.
abstract: 14 hepatitis B vaccine recipients who showed high titers of anti-hepatitis B surface antibodies in serum after booster immunization with a polyvalent hepatitis B surface antigen vaccine that contained trace amounts of hepatitis B virus (HBV) preS1 and preS2 envelope antigens were studied for their in vitro T cell response to these antigens. All 14 subjects displayed a significant proliferative T cell response to the S/p25 envelope region encoded polypeptide; 8 also responded to preS1, while only 1 showed a significant level of T cell proliferation to preS2. Limiting dilution analysis demonstrated that the frequency of preS-specific T cells in two of these vaccine recipients was higher than that of S/p25-specific T cells. T cell cloning was then performed and a total of 29 HBV envelope antigen-reactive CD4+ cloned lines were generated from two preS-responsive vaccines. 21 of these lines were S/p25 specific, 7 preS1 specific, and 1 preS2 specific. Taken together, all these results suggest that the preS1 antigen may function as a strong T cell immunogen in man.
authors.affiliation: Cattedra di Malattie Infettive, Università di Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Penna
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bertoletti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cavalli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valli
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schianchi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fiaccadori
mesh_terms: D000090266:Chromobox Protein Homolog 5; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: C000715594:CBX5 protein, human; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D011498:Protein Precursors; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines; C050806:presurface protein 1, hepatitis B surface antigen; D000090266:Chromobox Protein Homolog 5