Direct ex vivo analyses of HLA-DR1 transgenic mice reveal an exceptionally broad pattern of immunodominance in the primary HLA-DR1-restricted CD4 T-cell …

KA Richards, FA Chaves, FR Krafcik… - Journal of …, 2007 - Am Soc Microbiol
KA Richards, FA Chaves, FR Krafcik, DJ Topham, CA Lazarski, AJ Sant
Journal of virology, 2007Am Soc Microbiol
The recent threat of an avian influenza pandemic has generated significant interest in
enhancing our understanding of the events that dictate protective immunity to influenza and
in generating vaccines that can induce heterosubtypic immunity. Although antigen-specific
CD4 T cells are known to play a key role in protective immunity to influenza through the
provision of help to B cells and CD8 T cells, little is known about the specificity and diversity
of CD4 T cells elicited after infection, particularly those elicited in humans. In this study, we …
Abstract
The recent threat of an avian influenza pandemic has generated significant interest in enhancing our understanding of the events that dictate protective immunity to influenza and in generating vaccines that can induce heterosubtypic immunity. Although antigen-specific CD4 T cells are known to play a key role in protective immunity to influenza through the provision of help to B cells and CD8 T cells, little is known about the specificity and diversity of CD4 T cells elicited after infection, particularly those elicited in humans. In this study, we used HLA-DR transgenic mice to directly and comprehensively identify the specificities of hemagglutinin (HA)-specific CD4 T cells restricted to a human class II molecule that were elicited following intranasal infection with a strain of influenza virus that has been endemic in U.S. human populations for the last decade. Our results reveal a surprising degree of diversity among influenza virus-specific CD4 T cells. As many as 30 different peptides, spanning the entire HA protein, were recognized by CD4 T cells, including epitopes genetically conserved among H1, H2, and H5 influenza A viruses. We also compared three widely used major histocompatibility class II algorithms to predict HLA-DR binding peptides and found these as yet inadequate for identifying influenza virus-derived epitopes. The results of these studies offer key insights into the spectrum of peptides recognized by HLA-DR-restricted CD4 T cells that may be the focus of immune responses to infection or to experimental or clinical vaccines in humans.
American Society for Microbiology