Title Human rhinovirus-specific CD8 T cell responses target conserved and unusual epitopes.
Author Gomez-Perosanz, Marta; Sanchez-Trincado, Jose L; Fernandez-Arquero, Miguel; Sidney, John; Sette, Alessandro; Lafuente, Esther M; Reche, Pedro A
Journal FASEB J Publication Year/Month 2021-Jan
PMID 33230881 PMCID PMC7753581
Affiliation + expend 1.Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

Human Rhinovirus (HRV) is a major cause of common cold, bronchiolitis, and exacerbations of chronic pulmonary diseases such as asthma. CD8 T cell responses likely play an important role in the control of HRV infection but, surprisingly, HRV-specific CD8 T cell epitopes remain yet to be identified. Here, we approached the discovery and characterization of conserved HRV-specific CD8 T cell epitopes from species A (HRV A) and C (HRV C), the most frequent subtypes in the clinics of various pulmonary diseases. We found IFNgamma-ELISPOT positive responses to 23 conserved HRV-specific peptides on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 14 HLA I typed subjects. Peptide-specific IFNgamma production by CD8 T cells and binding to the relevant HLA I were confirmed for six HRV A-specific and three HRV C-specific CD8 T cell epitopes. In addition, we validated A*02:01-restricted epitopes by DimerX staining and found out that these peptides mediated cytotoxicity. All these A*02:01-restricted epitopes were 9-mers but, interestingly, we also identified and validated an unusually long 16-mer epitope peptide restricted by A*02:01, HRVC1791-1806 (GLEPLDLNTSAGFPYV). HRV-specific CD8 T cell epitopes describe here are expected to elicit CD8 T cell responses in up to 87% of the population and could be key for developing an HRV vaccine.

  • Copyright © 2023
    National Institute of Pathogen Biology, CAMS & PUMC, Bejing, China
    All rights reserved.