Early T Cell Recognition of B Cells following Epstein-Barr Virus Infection: Identifying Potential Targets for Prophylactic Vaccination.

Epstein-Barr virus, a B-lymphotropic herpesvirus, is the cause of infectious mononucleosis, has strong aetiologic links with several malignancies and has been implicated in certain autoimmune diseases. Efforts to develop a prophylactic vaccine to prevent or reduce EBV-associated disease have, to dat...

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Main Authors: Jill M Brooks, Heather M Long, Rose J Tierney, Claire Shannon-Lowe, Alison M Leese, Martin Fitzpatrick, Graham S Taylor, Alan B Rickinson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-04-01
Series:PLoS Pathogens
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1005549&type=printable
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author Jill M Brooks
Heather M Long
Rose J Tierney
Claire Shannon-Lowe
Alison M Leese
Martin Fitzpatrick
Graham S Taylor
Alan B Rickinson
author_facet Jill M Brooks
Heather M Long
Rose J Tierney
Claire Shannon-Lowe
Alison M Leese
Martin Fitzpatrick
Graham S Taylor
Alan B Rickinson
author_sort Jill M Brooks
collection DOAJ
description Epstein-Barr virus, a B-lymphotropic herpesvirus, is the cause of infectious mononucleosis, has strong aetiologic links with several malignancies and has been implicated in certain autoimmune diseases. Efforts to develop a prophylactic vaccine to prevent or reduce EBV-associated disease have, to date, focused on the induction of neutralising antibody responses. However, such vaccines might be further improved by inducing T cell responses capable of recognising and killing recently-infected B cells. In that context, EBNA2, EBNA-LP and BHRF1 are the first viral antigens expressed during the initial stage of B cell growth transformation, yet have been poorly characterised as CD8+ T cell targets. Here we describe CD8+ T cell responses against each of these three "first wave" proteins, identifying target epitopes and HLA restricting alleles. While EBNA-LP and BHRF1 each contained one strong CD8 epitope, epitopes within EBNA2 induced immunodominant responses through several less common HLA class I alleles (e.g. B*3801 and B*5501), as well as subdominant responses through common class I alleles (e.g. B7 and C*0304). Importantly, such EBNA2-specific CD8+ T cells recognised B cells within the first day post-infection, prior to CD8+ T cells against well-characterised latent target antigens such as EBNA3B or LMP2, and effectively inhibited outgrowth of EBV-transformed B cell lines. We infer that "first wave" antigens of the growth-transforming infection, especially EBNA2, constitute potential CD8+ T cell immunogens for inclusion in prophylactic EBV vaccine design.
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spelling doaj-art-1dfc125317dd48d1bfb10be0d65fcd472025-08-20T03:24:26ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Pathogens1553-73661553-73742016-04-01124e100554910.1371/journal.ppat.1005549Early T Cell Recognition of B Cells following Epstein-Barr Virus Infection: Identifying Potential Targets for Prophylactic Vaccination.Jill M BrooksHeather M LongRose J TierneyClaire Shannon-LoweAlison M LeeseMartin FitzpatrickGraham S TaylorAlan B RickinsonEpstein-Barr virus, a B-lymphotropic herpesvirus, is the cause of infectious mononucleosis, has strong aetiologic links with several malignancies and has been implicated in certain autoimmune diseases. Efforts to develop a prophylactic vaccine to prevent or reduce EBV-associated disease have, to date, focused on the induction of neutralising antibody responses. However, such vaccines might be further improved by inducing T cell responses capable of recognising and killing recently-infected B cells. In that context, EBNA2, EBNA-LP and BHRF1 are the first viral antigens expressed during the initial stage of B cell growth transformation, yet have been poorly characterised as CD8+ T cell targets. Here we describe CD8+ T cell responses against each of these three "first wave" proteins, identifying target epitopes and HLA restricting alleles. While EBNA-LP and BHRF1 each contained one strong CD8 epitope, epitopes within EBNA2 induced immunodominant responses through several less common HLA class I alleles (e.g. B*3801 and B*5501), as well as subdominant responses through common class I alleles (e.g. B7 and C*0304). Importantly, such EBNA2-specific CD8+ T cells recognised B cells within the first day post-infection, prior to CD8+ T cells against well-characterised latent target antigens such as EBNA3B or LMP2, and effectively inhibited outgrowth of EBV-transformed B cell lines. We infer that "first wave" antigens of the growth-transforming infection, especially EBNA2, constitute potential CD8+ T cell immunogens for inclusion in prophylactic EBV vaccine design.https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1005549&type=printable
spellingShingle Jill M Brooks
Heather M Long
Rose J Tierney
Claire Shannon-Lowe
Alison M Leese
Martin Fitzpatrick
Graham S Taylor
Alan B Rickinson
Early T Cell Recognition of B Cells following Epstein-Barr Virus Infection: Identifying Potential Targets for Prophylactic Vaccination.
PLoS Pathogens
title Early T Cell Recognition of B Cells following Epstein-Barr Virus Infection: Identifying Potential Targets for Prophylactic Vaccination.
title_full Early T Cell Recognition of B Cells following Epstein-Barr Virus Infection: Identifying Potential Targets for Prophylactic Vaccination.
title_fullStr Early T Cell Recognition of B Cells following Epstein-Barr Virus Infection: Identifying Potential Targets for Prophylactic Vaccination.
title_full_unstemmed Early T Cell Recognition of B Cells following Epstein-Barr Virus Infection: Identifying Potential Targets for Prophylactic Vaccination.
title_short Early T Cell Recognition of B Cells following Epstein-Barr Virus Infection: Identifying Potential Targets for Prophylactic Vaccination.
title_sort early t cell recognition of b cells following epstein barr virus infection identifying potential targets for prophylactic vaccination
url https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1005549&type=printable
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