Identification of peptides presented by HLA class I molecules on cervical cancer cells with HPV-18 infection

In this work we eluted peptides from purified class I MHC molecules, isolat ed from a novel human cervical carcinoma cell line (INBL), generated in our laboratory and positive for HPV-18 infection. A fraction of these peptides was capable of stimulating T lymphocytes obtained from a donor matched for HLA-Cw4 and who was also HPV-18+. Direct N-terminal Edman degradation of t hese peptides, revealed the sequence (XQFPIFLQF) that matched 85% with the sequence NVFPIFLQM localized in between the 54 and 62 residues of the HPV-1 8 L1 protein. After stimulation with the synthetic peptide NVFPIFLQM, T lym phocytes from the donor were capable to lyse INBL cells. Our results provid e evidence of the existence of naturally occurring viral epitopes presented on cervical cancer cells by the HLA-Cw4 allele, that could be useful for i mmunotherapy on this type of patient, (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd . All rights reserved.