MHC Class I Presented T Cell Epitopes as Potential Antigens for Therapeutic Vaccine against HBV Chronic Infection
Figure 5
HBV specific peptides are able to activate CD8+ T cells in vivo in both an HLA-A2 and HLA-A24 restricted fashion. HLA-A2 (a) or HLA-A24 (b) transgenic mice were primed and boosted with peptides as previously described. Spleens were harvested, homogenized into single cell suspensions, and cultured with peptide pulsed (peptides are represented as first 3 residues of the sequence) HepG2 cells or HBV expressing cells overnight in an IFN-gamma ELISpot assay. T cell activation was also measured by examining CD107a upregulation on HLA-A2 (c) or HLA-A24 (d) CD8+ T cells. Splenocytes were cultured for 6 hours with peptide pulsed or HBV expressing cells in the presence of anti-CD107a and subsequently stained for CD8+ expression. Data is presented as the percent of cells in culture that are CD8+ CD107a+.
