title: Rapid determination of HLA B*07 ligands from the West Nile virus NY99 genome.
abstract: Defined T cell epitopes for West Nile (WN) virus may be useful for developing subunit vaccines against WN virus infection and diagnostic reagents to detect WN virus-specific immune response. We applied a bioinformatics (EpiMatrix) approach to search the WN virus NY99 genome for HLA B*07 restricted cytotoxic T cell (CTL) epitopes. Ninety-five of 3,433 WN virus peptides scored above a predetermined cutoff, suggesting that these would be likely to bind to HLA B*07 and would also be likely candidate CTL epitopes. Compared with other methods for genome mapping, derivation of these ligands was rapid and inexpensive. Major histocompatibility complex ligands identified by this method may be used to screen T cells from WN virus-exposed persons for cell-mediated response to WN virus or to develop diagnostic reagents for immunopathogenesis studies and epidemiologic surveillance.
authors.affiliation: TB/HIV Research Laboratory, Brown University, Providence, RI 02906, USA. Anne_DeGroot@Brown.edu
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: De Groot
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saint-Aubin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bosma
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sbai
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rayner
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003429:Cross Reactions; D018604:Epitope Mapping / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D016679:Genome, Viral; D015793:HLA-B7 Antigen / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000276:immunology; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D015793:HLA-B7 Antigen; D008024:Ligands; D010455:Peptides