title: Identification of T- and B-cell epitopes associated with a restricted component of the Epstein-Barr virus-induced early antigen complex.
abstract: Experiments were designed in an attempt to identify T- and B-cell epitopes expressed on the 17-kDa early-antigen-restricted (EA-R) polypeptide of the EBV-induced early antigen complex. Using Berzofsky's algorithm, 3 hypothetical T-cell epitopes on p17 were synthesized and employed in EBV-specific lymphoproliferative assays. Lymphocytes from all EBV-infected donors responded against one of these epitopes (p17.1) irrespective of their serological status relative to antibodies to EA-R. Both CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell subpopulations from seropositive donors proliferated in the presence of p17.1 in short-term cultures. These experiments therefore identified one T-cell epitope on the 17-kDa polypeptide. In contrast, sera from anti-Ea antibody-positive individuals reacted with all 3 synthetic peptides to varying degrees, with p17.1 being the most frequently reactive epitope. When the sera were grouped according to diagnosis, it was noted that 82% of the sera from patients with aggressive lymphomas, whether Africans with Burkitt's lymphoma or North Americans with intermediate-grade large-cell or high-grade B-cell lymphoma, contained antibody reactive with p17.1, while 64% were reactive with p17.2 and 29% with p17.3. In contrast, high anti-EA antibody-positive sera from nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients were relatively less reactive with these synthetic peptides (23% positive with p17.1; 19% with p17.2; and 13% with p17.3). These results therefore identified 3 B-cell EA-R epitopes which might be potentially useful for clinical or epidemiological studies of EBV-associated lymphoproliferative diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Georgetown University Medical School, Washington, D.C. 20007.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pothen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Pearson
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D000937:Antigen-Antibody Reactions / Q000276:immunology; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D000939:Epitopes; C033305:Epstein-Barr virus early antigen; D010446:Peptide Fragments