Identification of Common CD8+ T Cell Epitopes from Lassa Fever Survivors in Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Abstract
Early and robust T cell responses have been associated with survival from Lassa fever (LF), but the Lassa virus-specific memory responses have not been well characterized. Regions within the virus surface glycoprotein (GPC) and nucleoprotein (NP) are the main targets of the Lassa virus-specific T cell responses, but, to date, only a few T cell epitopes within these proteins have been identified. We identified GPC and NP regions containing T cell epitopes and HLA haplotypes from LF survivors and used predictive HLA-binding algorithms to identify putative epitopes, which were then experimentally tested using autologous survivor samples. We identified 12 CD8-positive (CD8) T cell epitopes, including epitopes common to both Nigerian and Sierra Leonean survivors. These data should be useful for the identification of dominant Lassa virus-specific T cell responses in Lassa fever survivors and vaccinated individuals as well as for designing vaccines that elicit cell-mediated immunity.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Sakabe S, Hartnett JN, Ngo N, Goba A, Momoh M, Sandi JD, Kanneh L, Cubitt B, Garcia SD, Ware BC, Kotliar D, Robles-Sikisaka R, Gangavarapu K, Branco LM, Eromon P, Odia I, Ogbaini-Emovon E, Folarin O, Okogbenin S, Okokhere PO, Happi C, Sabeti PC, Andersen KG, Garry RF, de la Torre JC, Grant DS, Schieffelin JS, Oldstone MBA, Sullivan BM. 2020. Identification of common CD8+ T cell epitopes from Lassa fever survivors in Nigeria and Sierra Leone. J Virol 94: e00153-20. https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00153-20