title: Analysis of the immune response of Hantaan virus nucleocapsid protein-specific CD8+ T cells in mice.
abstract: The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class-I restricted epitope of Hantaan virus nucleocapsid protein (N) was identified using overlapping peptides and BALB/c mice. Using the MHC tetramer derived from the epitope, we found that the level of N-specific CD8(+) T cells increased to approximately 20% of all antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells in a mouse model of transient infection. However, N-specific CD8(+) T cells were undetectable in a mouse model of persistent infection, both in the persistently infected phase and in the convalescent phase. Levels of CD8(+) T cells producing interferon-gamma were weak in both the acute and convalescent phases in the persistently infected model. These results indicate that hantavirus strongly suppresses the production of N-specific CD8(+) T cells throughout the course of infection in persistently infected mice. Moreover, N-specific CD8(+) T cells were not effective in recovering persistently infected mice, despite the existence of abundant N antigen in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Animal Experimentation, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Kita-15, Nishi-7, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Midori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taruishi
authors.forename: Kumiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshimatsu
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Araki
authors.forename: Megumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okumura
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Kiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kajino
authors.forename: Jiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arikawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D005260:Female; D018063:Hantaan virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006480:Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome / Q000276:immunology*; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D014758:Viral Core Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D014758:Viral Core Proteins; C111782:nucleocapsid protein, Hantaan virus; D007371:Interferon-gamma