title: Analysis of a naturally occurring HLA class I-restricted viral epitope.
abstract: A previously described nonapeptide sequence motif for antigens recognized by T cells in the context of the human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule HLA-A2.1 was used to identify the natural epitope of influenza A virus matrix protein. We show here that the peptide with the sequence GILGFVFTL is the synthetic analogue of the natural epitope by demonstrating the presence of the corresponding peptide on MHC molecules of virus-infected cells. The role of the hydrophobic anchor amino acids in positions 2 and 9, which constitute the epitope motif, was investigated with synthetic variants of the epitope and cytotoxic T lymphocytes as indicator cells. The crucial role of the side chains of amino acids in those positions was evidence by their influence on the efficiency of T-cell stimulation.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Biologie, Abteilung Immungenetik, Universität Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Falk
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rötzschke
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stevanović
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gnau
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sparbier
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Rammensee
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Walden
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000276:immunology; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000737:chemistry*; D002460:Cell Line; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000276:immunology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D000939:Epitopes; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D010446:Peptide Fragments