title: Accessing Epstein-Barr virus-specific T-cell memory with peptide-loaded dendritic cells.
abstract: The conventional means of studying Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-induced cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) memory, by in vitro stimulation with the latently infected autologous lymphoblastoid cell line (LCL), has important limitations. First, it gives no information on memory to lytic cycle antigens; second, it preferentially amplifies the dominant components of latent antigen-specific memory at the expense of key subdominant reactivities. Here we describe an alternative approach, based on in vitro stimulation with epitope peptide-loaded dendritic cells (DCs), which allows one to probe the CTL repertoire for any individual reactivity of choice; this method proved significantly more efficient than stimulation with peptide alone. Using this approach we first show that reactivities to the immunodominant and subdominant lytic cycle epitopes identified by T cells during primary EBV infection are regularly detectable in the CTL memory of virus carriers; this implies that in such carriers chronic virus replication remains under direct T-cell control. We further show that subdominant latent cycle reactivities to epitopes in the latent membrane protein LMP2, though rarely undetectable in LCL-stimulated populations, can be reactivated by DC stimulation and selectively expanded as polyclonal CTL lines; the adoptive transfer of such preparations may be of value in targeting certain EBV-positive malignancies.
authors.affiliation: CRC Institute for Cancer Studies, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TA United Kingdom.
authors.forename: I V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Redchenko
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Rickinson
mesh_terms: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000276:immunology*; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D014764:Viral Proteins
chemical_list: C063676:BZLF1 protein, Herpesvirus 4, Human; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C037662:EBV-associated membrane antigen, Epstein-Barr virus; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins