COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS OF 14 INDIVIDUAL HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS PROTEINS FOR HELPER T-CELL RESPONSE

The potential of selected proteins of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) to induce a helper T (Th) cell immune response was investigated in health y HCMV-seropositive donors. Recombinant derived glycoproteins B (gpUL5 5), H (gpUL75), integral membrane protein (pUL100), the US6-US11 glyco protein family (pUS6-US11), the matrix proteins pp65 (ppUL83), pp28 (p pUL99) and the immediate early proteins IE1 (pUL123), IE2 (pUL122) and UL69 (pUL69) were used as stimulating antigens in a lymphocyte prolif eration assay. The antigen-specific proliferative response was measure d in HCMV-specific T cell lines (phenotype CD4(+) CD8(-)) generated fr om five donors by stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells wi th purified HCMV or HCMV-infected fibroblasts. A proliferative T cell response was induced by pp65, gB, gH, IE1, IE2 and UL69, with a domina nt response to pp65 in all donors. Three T cell lines responded to gB and gH, respectively. For IE1, IE2 and UL69 a T cell stimulation could be demonstrated in single cell lines generated with lysate of HCMV-in fected fibroblasts.