These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed


  • Title: Functional analysis of DR17(DR3)-restricted mycobacterial T cell epitopes reveals DR17-binding motif and enables the design of allele-specific competitor peptides.
    Author: Geluk A, Van Meijgaarden KE, Janson AA, Drijfhout JW, Meloen RH, De Vries RR, Ottenhoff TH.
    Journal: J Immunol; 1992 Nov 01; 149(9):2864-71. PubMed ID: 1383331.
    Abstract:
    We have previously shown that p3-13 (KTIAY-DEEARR) of the 65-kDa heat shock protein (hsp65) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae is selected as an important T cell epitope in HLA-DR17+ individuals, by selectively binding to (a pocket in) DR17 molecules, the major subset of the DR3 specificity. We have now further studied the interaction between p3-13, HLA-DR17 and four different TCR (V beta 5.1, V beta 1, and V beta 4) by using T cell stimulation assays, direct peptide-DR binding assays, and a large panel (n = 240) of single amino acid substitution analogs of p3-13. We find that residues 5(I) and 8(D) of p3-13 are important DR17 binding residues, whereas the residues that interact with the TCR vary slightly for each DR17-restricted clone. By using N- and C-terminal truncated derivatives of p2-20 we defined the minimal peptide length for both HLA-DR17 binding and T cell activation: the minimal peptide that bound to DR17 was seven amino acids long whereas the minimal peptide that activated T cell proliferation was eight amino acids in length. Furthermore, two new DR17-restricted epitopes were identified on hsp70 and hsp18 of M. leprae. Alignment of the critical DR17-binding residues 5(I) and 8(D) of p3-13 with these two novel epitopes and two other DR17-binding peptides revealed the presence of highly conserved amino acids at positions n and n + 3 with I, L, and V at position n and D and E at position n + 3. D and E are particularly likely to interact with the DR17-specific, positively charged pocket that we have defined earlier. Based on these results, a set of single amino acid substituted analogs that failed to activate these T cell clones but still bound specifically to DR17 was defined and tested for their ability to inhibit T cell activation by p3-13 or other DR17-restricted epitopes. Those peptides were able to inhibit the response to p3-13 as well as other DR17-restricted mycobacterial epitopes in an allele-specific manner, and are anticipated to be of potential use for immunotherapeutic and vaccine design strategies.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]