title: Conserved MHC class I-presented dengue virus epitopes identified by immunoproteomics analysis are targets for cross-serotype reactive T-cell response.
abstract: Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever are significant global public health problems, and understanding the overall immune response to infection will contribute to appropriate management of the disease and its potentially severe complications. Live attenuated and subunit vaccine candidates, which are under clinical evaluation, induce primarily an antibody response to the virus and minimal cross-reactive T-cell responses. Currently, there are no available tools to assess protective T-cell responses during infection or after vaccination. In this study, we utilize an immunoproteomics process to uncover novel HLA-A2-specific epitopes derived from dengue virus (DV)-infected cells. These epitopes are conserved, and we report that epitope-specific cytotoxic lymphocytes (CTLs) are cross-reactive against all 4 DV serotypes. These epitopes have potential as new informational and diagnostic tools to characterize T-cell immunity in DV infection and may serve as part of a universal vaccine candidate complementary to current vaccines in trial.
authors.affiliation: Immunotope Inc, Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, Doylestown, PA 18902, USA.
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Testa
authors.forename: Vivekananda
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Shetty
authors.forename: Gomathinayagam
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sinnathamby
authors.forename: Zacharie
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nickens
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hafner
authors.forename: Shivali
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamal
authors.forename: Xianchao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Marti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jett
authors.forename: Ramila
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Philip
mesh_terms: D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D003429:Cross Reactions; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods; D012703:Serotyping; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D000939:Epitopes; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen