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T Cell Epitope-Containing Peptides of the Major Dog Allergen Can f 1 as Candidates for Allergen Immunotherapy¹

Anu Immonen^2,*, Sandrine Farci, Antti Taivainen, Jukka Partanen^¶, Sandra Pouvelle-Moratille, Ale Närvänen, Tuure Kinnunen^*, Soili Saarelainen^*, Marja Rytkönen-Nissinen^*, Bernard Maillere and Tuomas Virtanen^*

^* Department of Clinical Microbiology and Department of Chemistry, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland; Département d’Ingénierie et d’Etudes des Protéines, Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique-Saclay, Gif sur Yvette, France; Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland; and ^¶ Department of Tissue Typing, Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Helsinki, Finland

One prerequisite for developing peptide-based allergen immunotherapy is knowing the T cell epitopes of an allergen. In this study, human T cell reactivity against the major dog allergen Can f 1 was investigated to determine peptides suitable for immunotherapy. Seven T cell epitope regions (A–G) were found in Can f 1 with specific T cell lines and clones. The localization of the epitope regions shows similarities with those of the epitopes found in Bos d 2 and Rat n 1. On average, individuals recognized three epitopes in Can f 1. Our results suggest that seven 16-mer peptides (p15–30, p33–48, p49–64, p73–88, p107–122, p123–138, and p141–156), each from one of the epitope regions, show widespread T cell reactivity in the population studied, and they bind efficiently to seven HLA-DRB1 molecules (DRB1*0101, DRB1*0301, DRB1*0401, DRB1*0701, DRB1*1101, DRB1*1301, and DRB1*1501) predominant in Caucasian populations. Therefore, these peptides are potential candidates for immunotherapy of dog allergy.