CHARACTERIZATION OF MHC CLASS-I RESTRICTED CYTOTOXIC T-CELL RESPONSESTO TAX IN HTLV-1 INFECTED PATIENTS WITH NEUROLOGIC DISEASE

To understand the nature of the cytotoxic T cell response generated in human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-infected patients with HTL V-1 -associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis, we cloned CTL from the peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid from patients with neurologic diseases and demonstrated the presence of HLA-A2, A3, and B 14 restricted responses to the HTLV-1 p40x (tax) protein. We identifie d the minimal amino acid residues within the epitopes required for bin ding and recognition by HLA-A2- and B14-restricted CTL, identified the critical residues within the peptide sequence defining the HLA-A2-res tricted response, and demonstrated that CTL can lyse T cells infected with HTLV-1. This study shows that the CTL response to HTLV-1 tax in p atients with neurologic diseases is heterogenous in nature and is not confined to patients of a single HLA haplotype or to a specific region of the tax protein.