Characterization of an epitope of the human cytomegalovirus protein IE1 recognized by a CD4+ T cell clone.

CD4+ T cells specific for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) IE1 protein are potential effectors of the control of HCMV infection through cytokine production. Better knowledge of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-peptide-T cell receptor (TcR) interactions in the CD4+ T cell response should result in a better design of immunizing peptides and is a prerequisite for the development of vaccines or anti-cytomegalovirus therapy. In this study, the recombinant protein comprising residues 86-491 encoded by exon 4 of IE1 (GST-e4) was cleaved by enzymatic digestion and analyzed by high pressure liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (HPLC-MS). We identified the 14-residue epitope 162-DKREMWMACIKELH-175 recognized by an HLA-DR8-restricted clone, BeA3. Synthetic elongated, truncated and di-Ala-substituted peptides of the 18-mer IE1 158-IVPEDKREMWMACIKELH-175 sequence were used to analyze the amino acid motifs involved in binding to HLA-DR8 and recognition by the BeA3 clone. Substitutions which abolished (MW --> AA), or decreased (RE --> AA and MA --> AA) T cell clone proliferation, cytokine production and cytotoxicity were identified. Loss of T cell function induced by the MW --> AA substitution was associated with poor HLA-DR8 binding. Decreased T cell function (RE --> AA and MA --> AA) was associated with good HLA-DR8 binding, which suggested that these motifs were involved in TcR binding. Other substitutions induced potentiation of the T cell clone response: the IV --> AA substitution induced stronger proliferation, but equivalent cytokine production, when compared with the reference peptide IE1 (158-175). CI --> AA substitution induced strong potentiation of HLA-DR8 binding, proliferation and interferon-gamma and interleukin-4 production, possibly due to the removal of negative effects of Cys, Ile, or both side chains. Cytotoxicity was not improved by any substitution. Our results show modulation of the CD4+ T cell response according to the peptide residues involved in the HLA-DR8-peptide-TcR interaction.