J. Beninga et al., COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS OF 14 INDIVIDUAL HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS PROTEINS FOR HELPER T-CELL RESPONSE, Journal of General Virology, 76, 1995, pp. 153-160
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.