title: Two novel HLA-A*0201 T-cell epitopes in avian H5N1 viral nucleoprotein induced specific immune responses in HHD mice.
abstract: The influenza A nucleoprotein (NP) is an attractive target for avian flu vaccine development because of its high conversancy in the evolutionary chain of the virus. Here we identified two novel HLA-A*0201 restricted NP epitopes, named H5N1 NP373-381 AMDSNTLEL (NP373) and NP458-466 FQGRGVFEL (NP458), using computational bioinformatic analysis. The NP peptides showed a high binding affinity to HLA-A*0201 on T2 cells, and were able to induce the activation of the cytotoxic T cells in the human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. We examined the potential of using NP373 and NP458 peptide sequences supplemented with a single-chain trimer as potential DNA vaccine candidates in an HHD transgenic mouse model. A gene gun delivery system was used for administrating the vaccine candidates into the animals. The results from cytotoxicity and ELISPOT assays indicated that a significant amount of IFN-gamma was secreted by the T cells of the vaccinated mice, and the T cells were able to eliminate the corresponding peptide-loaded T2 cells. The discovery of these novel immunogenic NP peptides provides valuable information for avian flu vaccine design and construction.
authors: Ying-Kit
authors: YK
authors: Cheung
authors: Samuel Chak-Sum
authors: SC
authors: Cheng
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Ke
authors: Yong
authors: Y
authors: Xie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019470:Biolistics; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D053124:Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009976:Orthomyxoviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D015234:HLA-A Antigens; D007252:Influenza Vaccines; D019444:Vaccines, DNA; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins