National and Regional Joint Engineering Laboratory for Medicament of Zoonosis Prevention and Control, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
Viral Oncogenesis Group, The Pirbright Institute and UK-China Centre of Excellence for Research on Avian Diseases, Surrey, United Kingdom.
J Biol Chem. 2024 Jun;300(6):107395. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2024.107395. Epub 2024 May 19.
B2 haplotype major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has been extensively reported to confer resistance to various avian diseases. But its peptide-binding motif is unknown, and the presenting peptide is rarely identified. Here, we identified its peptide-binding motif (X-A/V/I/L/P/S/G-X-X-X-X-X-X-V/I/L) in vitro using Random Peptide Library-based MHC I LC-MS/MS analysis. To further clarify the structure basis of motif, we determined the crystal structure of the BF2∗02:01-PB2 complex at 1.9 Å resolution. We found that BF2∗02:01 had a relatively wide antigen-binding groove, and the structural characterization of pockets was consistent with the characterization of peptide-binding motif. The wider features of the peptide-binding motif and increased number of peptides bound by BF2∗02:01 than BF2∗04:01 might resolve the puzzles for the presence of potential H9N2 resistance in B2 chickens. Afterward, we explored the H9N2 avian influenza virus (AIV)-induced cellular immune response in B2 haplotype chickens in vivo. We found that ratio of CD8 T cell and kinetic expression of cytotoxicity genes including Granzyme K, interferon-γ, NK lysin, and poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were significantly increased in defending against H9N2 AIV infection. Especially, we selected 425 epitopes as candidate epitopes based on the peptide-binding motif and further identified four CD8 T-cell epitopes on H9N2 AIV including NS1, PB2, NP, and NP via ELI-spot interferon-γ detections after stimulating memory lymphocytes with peptides. More importantly, these epitopes were found to be conserved in H7N9 AIV and H9N2 AIV. These findings provide direction for developing effective T cell epitope vaccines using well-conserved internal viral antigens in chickens.
B2 单倍型主要组织相容性复合体 (MHC) 已被广泛报道可抵抗各种禽病。但其肽结合基序未知,呈递肽也很少被鉴定。在这里,我们使用基于随机肽文库的 MHC I LC-MS/MS 分析在体外鉴定了其肽结合基序 (X-A/V/I/L/P/S/G-X-X-X-X-X-X-V/I/L)。为了进一步阐明基序的结构基础,我们测定了 BF2∗02:01-PB2 复合物的晶体结构,分辨率为 1.9 Å。我们发现 BF2∗02:01 具有相对较宽的抗原结合槽,口袋的结构特征与肽结合基序的特征一致。BF2∗02:01 结合的肽结合基序较宽,结合的肽数量增加,这可能解释了 B2 鸡存在潜在的 H9N2 抗性的原因。之后,我们在体内研究了 B2 单倍型鸡中的 H9N2 禽流感病毒 (AIV) 诱导的细胞免疫反应。我们发现,在抵抗 H9N2 AIV 感染时,外周血单个核细胞中 CD8 T 细胞的比例和细胞毒性基因包括 Granzyme K、干扰素-γ、NK 溶酶体和多聚 (ADP-核糖) 聚合酶的动力学表达显著增加。特别是,我们根据肽结合基序选择了 425 个表位作为候选表位,并通过用肽刺激记忆淋巴细胞后进行 ELI-spot 干扰素-γ检测,进一步鉴定了 H9N2 AIV 中的 4 个 CD8 T 细胞表位,包括 NS1、PB2、NP 和 NP。更重要的是,这些表位在 H7N9 AIV 和 H9N2 AIV 中被发现是保守的。这些发现为开发利用鸡体内保守的内部病毒抗原的有效 T 细胞表位疫苗提供了方向。