Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2007
Abstract
Glycoprotein K (gK) is a virion envelope component of herpes simplex virus types 1 (HSV-1) and 2 (HSV-2), which plays an important role in virion morphogenesis and egress. We previously demonstrated that immunization of mice with gK, but not with any of the 10 other HSV-1 glycoproteins, resulted in exacerbation of corneal scarring and herpetic dermatitis following ocular HSV-1 infection. However, little is known about the gK epitope(s) that is (are) involved in T cell activities in vitro or in vivo. Thus, epitope mapping of gK was performed using a panel of 15-mer peptides with five-amino acid overlaps spanning the full-length gK, and four expressed gK recombinant proteins representing different regions of gK. Epitope mapping within the gK polypeptide defined the amino acid sequence STVVLITAYGLVLVW as the predominant CD4+ and CD8+ T cell stimulatory region both in vitro and in vivo. IFN-γ expression by CD4+ T cells was CD8+ T cells-dependent. This immunodominant epitope is located within the signal sequence of the gK polypeptide and is highly conserved in HSV-1 and HSV-2 strains. Using prediction algorithms, the peptide is predicted to bind to numerous MHC class I and class II molecules. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
Virus Research
First Page
71
Last Page
80
Recommended Citation
Osorio, Y., Mott, K., Jabbar, A., Moreno, A., Foster, T., Kousoulas, K., & Ghiasi, H. (2007). Epitope mapping of HSV-1 glycoprotein K (gK) reveals a T cell epitope located within the signal domain of gK. Virus Research, 128 (1-2), 71-80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2007.04.007