Bovine lymphocyte antigen-A11-specific peptide motif as a means to identify cytotoxic T-lymphocyte epitopes of bovine herpesvirus 1

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules present 8- to 10-m er viral peptides to antiviral cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Identificati on of the allele-specific peptide motifs (ASPMs) of class I molecules enabl es the prediction of potential CTL epitopes of a virus from its protein seq uences. Based on the bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) protein sequences that co nform to the BoLA-A11 ASPM that we identified previously, potential CTL epi topes of BHV-1 were synthesized for use in cytotoxicity assays with CTLs fr om BHV-1-immunized calves, A peptide binding assay used to select the pepti des that are most likely to be CTL epitopes categorized the peptides into g roups of high, intermediate, and low binding capacity. Synthetic peptides s timulated lymphocytes from BHV-1-immunized calves to secrete interferon-gam ma, Groups of peptides from the major glycoproteins of BHV-1 restimulated C TLs in vitro and sensitized targets for lysis by means of restimulated bulk CTLs.