IMMUNODOMINANCE DOES NOT RESULT FROM PEPTIDE COMPETITION FOR MHC CLASS II PRESENTATION

摘要: Competition for binding to MHC class II molecules between processed peptides derived from a single protein Ag is considered an important parameter leading the presentation of limited set by APCs. We tested relevance this competition process in model Ag, MalE protein, deleting T cell epitopes or introducing competitor peptide. identified DBA/1 (I-Aq) mice six immunodominant determinants sequence, 89–95, 116–123, 198–205, 211–219, 274–281, and 335–341. Synthetic carrying these were classified three groups as weak, intermediate, strong I-Aq binders experiments with PreS:T peptide hepatitis B surface Ag. In vivo, synthetic weak intermediate capacity inhibited their stimulate proliferative response presence peptide, whereas strongest binder was not. Strikingly, insertion potent into copy four copies, did not inhibit recipient protein. Moreover, deletion sequence disrupting either (198–205) (335–341) determinant modify remaining compared wild-type Altogether, results show that may represent most event processes immunodominance.