title: Differential effect of cytotoxic T lymphocyte variant epitopes on generation and cytotoxicity in chronic hepatitis C virus infection.
abstract: Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) B44-restricted, hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) recognize HCV nucleoprotein amino acid residues 88-96 as an epitope. We previously reported the existence of variant peptide sequences at the epitope locus in three of 27 patients with HCV infection and HLA B44. Here we studied the effects of the variant peptide sequences on generation and cytotoxicity of CTLs. Two of the three variant peptides generated CTLs poorly although they activated well the cytotoxicity of CTLs. Such a differential activation of proliferation and cytotoxicity may contribute to the emergence of HCV with variant epitopes for CTLs.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, 142-8666, Tokyo, Japan
authors.forename: Kazumasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hiroishi
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eguchi
authors.forename: Shigeaki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mitamura
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imawari