Generation of the vesicular stomatitis virus nucleoprotein cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitope requires proteasome-dependent and -independent proteolytic activities.

The proteasome is involved in the generation of most of the MHC class I antigenic epitopes. However, it is not known if the proteasome generates the exact cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitope or only epitope precursors which require further modification by additional proteases. Digestion of the extended vesicular stomatitis virus nucleoprotein epitope 52-59 (RGYVYQGL) by the 20S proteasome in vitro shows that the proteasome is capable of generating the correct C terminus but not the exact N terminus of the CTL epitope. This finding suggests that proteolytic activity in addition to the proteasome is required for generation of the CTL epitope. By using the proteasome inhibitor lactacystin we were able to confirm this finding in vivo. Lactacystin prevented the processing of N- and C-terminally extended epitopes, whereas the processing of only N-terminally extended epitopes was unaffected. Thus, the proteasome is necessary and sufficient for the generation of the exact C terminus of this CTL epitope, whereas the exact N terminus seems to be generated by a different protease.