Published in:
Open Access
01-12-2011 | Research
Identification of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes from porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus matrix protein in BALB/c mice
Authors:
Weijun Zhang, Yan Lin, Yu Bai, Tiegang Tong, Qun Wang, Nihong Liu, Guangliang Liu, Yihong Xiao, Tao Yang, Zhigao Bu, Guangzhi Tong, Donglai Wu
Published in:
Virology Journal
|
Issue 1/2011
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Abstract
Twenty-seven nanopeptides derived from the matrix (M) protein of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) were screened for their ability to elicit a recall interferon-γ (IFN-γ) response from the splenocytes of BALB/c mice following DNA vaccination and a booster vaccination with recombinant vaccinia virus rWR-PRRSV-M. We identified two peptides (amino acid residues K93FITSRCRL and F57GYMTFVHF) as CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes. These peptides elicited significant numbers of IFN-γ secreting cells, compared with other M nonapeptides and one irrelevant nonapeptide. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the former is an H-2K
d
-restricted CTL epitope, and the latter is an H-2D
d
-restricted CTL epitope. Multiple amino acid sequence alignment among different PRRSV M sequences submitted to GenBank indicated that these two CTL epitopes are strongly conserved, and they should therefore be considered for further research on the mechanisms of cellular immune responses to PRRSV.