HBV-specific peptide associated with heat-shock protein gp96

Glycoprotein 96 (gp96), a member of the heat-shock protein family, can elic it priming of antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes, when bound to antig enic viral or tumour peptides. We used direct peptide isolation from purifi ed gp96 and microsequencing to show that a virus-specific peptide Is bound to gp96 derived from liver tissues of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) -induced hepatocellular carcinoma. This virus-specific peptide has potentia l for engineering tumour vaccines against hepatocellular carcinoma and chro nic HBV infection.