ANALYSIS OF THE PRIMARY T-CELL RESPONSE TO SENDAI VIRUS-INFECTION IN C57BL 6 MICE - CD4(+) T-CELL RECOGNITION IS DIRECTED PREDOMINANTLY TO THE HEMAGGLUTININ-NEURAMINIDASE GLYCOPROTEIN/

Sendai virus infection of C57BL/6 mice elicits a strong CD4(+) and CD8 (+) T-cell response in the respiratory tract. To investigate the speci ficity of the CD4(+) T-cell response, a panel of hybridomas was genera ted from cells recovered from the respiratory tracts of infected mice. Using vaccinia virus recombinants expressing individual Sendai virus proteins, we found that the majority of these hybridomas (34 of 37) we re specific for the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) glycoprotein. The hybridomas were then analyzed for reactivity to a set of overlapping peptides spanning the entire length of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase glycoprotein. At least five H-2 I-A(b)-restricted epitopes were defin ed in HN. The strong bias toward recognition of class II epitopes deri ved from a single viral protein contrasts with T-cell recognition of e pitopes of several proteins in influenza A virus as found previously b y others.