HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ribechini, E. Articles by Gavioli, R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ribechini, E. Articles by Gavioli, R.

Identification of CD8⁺ T Cell Epitopes within Lytic Antigens of Human Herpes Virus 8¹

Eliana Ribechini^*, Cinzia Fortini^*, Mauro Marastoni, Serena Traniello^*, Susanna Spisani^*, Paolo Monini and Riccardo Gavioli^2,*

^* Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy; and Laboratory of Virology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy

The human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) is a herpesvirus with oncogenic potential which establishes a chronic infection that is normally controlled by the immune system of healthy individuals. In particular, CTL responses seem to play a key role in control of the infection. In this study, we characterized epitope-specific CTL responses in healthy HHV-8-seropositive individuals against four HHV-8 lytic Ags: open reading frames (ORF) 26, 70, K3, and K5. We found that the majority of subjects responded to at least one HHV-8 lytic Ag-derived epitope, and some of these epitopes represented dominant targets, suggesting that they could be relevant targets of CTL-mediated immunity in vivo, and may be involved in host control of HHV-8. Specifically, we identified three CTL epitopes from ORF 26, which are presented by HLA-A2, six CTL epitopes from ORF 70 presented by HLA-A2 (three epitopes), -A24 (two epitopes), and -B7 (one epitope), three CTL epitopes from ORF K3 presented by HLA-A2 (two epitopes) and -B7 (one epitope), and one HLA-A2 presented epitope derived from ORF K5. The identified epitopes may be regarded as useful tools for understanding the role of CTL responses to lytic Ags in individuals affected by HHV-8-associated disorders, and for the development of immunotherapies for the treatment/prevention of HHV-8-associated malignancies.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Barcy, S. C. De Rosa, J. Vieira, K. Diem, M. Ikoma, C. Casper, and L. Corey {gamma}{delta}+ T Cells Involvement in Viral Immune Control of Chronic Human Herpesvirus 8 Infection J. Immunol., March 1, 2008; 180(5): 3417 - 3425. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Guihot, E. Oksenhendler, L. Galicier, A.-G. Marcelin, L. Papagno, A.-S. Bedin, F. Agbalika, N. Dupin, J. Cadranel, B. Autran, et al. Multicentric Castleman disease is associated with polyfunctional effector memory HHV-8-specific CD8+ T cells Blood, February 1, 2008; 111(3): 1387 - 1395. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. Bihl, M. Narayan, J. V. Chisholm III, L. M. Henry, T. J. Suscovich, E. E. Brown, T. M. Welzel, D. E. Kaufmann, T. M. Zaman, S. Dollard, et al. Lytic and Latent Antigens of the Human Gammaherpesviruses Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus and Epstein-Barr Virus Induce T-Cell Responses with Similar Functional Properties and Memory Phenotypes J. Virol., May 1, 2007; 81(9): 4904 - 4908. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Lambert, M. Gannage, A. Karras, M. Abel, C. Legendre, D. Kerob, F. Agbalika, P.-M. Girard, C. Lebbe, and S. Caillat-Zucman Differences in the frequency and function of HHV8-specific CD8 T cells between asymptomatic HHV8 infection and Kaposi sarcoma Blood, December 1, 2006; 108(12): 3871 - 3880. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]