A reductionist cell-free major histocompatibility complex class II antigen processing system identifies immunodominant epitopes

Isamu Z. Hartman, Aeryon Kim, Robert J. Cotter, Kimberly Walter, Sarat K. Dalai, Tatiana Boronina, Wendell Griffith, David E. Lanar, Robert Schwenk, Urszula Krzych, Robert N. Cole, Scheherazade Sadegh-Nasseri

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

Immunodominance is defined as restricted responsiveness of T cells to a few selected epitopes from complex antigens. Strategies currently used for elucidating CD4+ T cell epitopes are inadequate. To understand the mechanism of epitope selection for helper T cells, we established a cell-free antigen processing system composed of defined proteins: human leukocyte antigen-DR1 (HLA-DR1), HLA-DM and cathepsins. Our reductionist system successfully identified the physiologically selected immunodominant epitopes of two model antigens: hemagglutinin-1 (HA1) from influenza virus (A/Texas/1/77) and type II collagen (CII). When applied for identification of new epitopes from a recombinant liver-stage antigen of malaria falciparum (LSA-NRC) or HA1 from H5N1 influenza virus ('avian flu'), the system selected single epitopes from each protein that were confirmed to be immunodominant by their capacity to activate CD4+ T cells from H5N1-immunized HLA-DR1-transgenic mice and LSA-NRC-vaccinated HLA-DR1-positive human volunteers. Thus, we provide a new tool for the identification of physiologically relevant helper T cell epitopes from antigens.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1333-1340
Number of pages8
JournalNature medicine
Volume16
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2010

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

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