Rapid determination of HLA B*07 ligands from the West Nile Virus NY99 genome

Defined T-cell epitopes for West Nile (WN) virus may be useful for developi ng subunit vaccines against WN virus infection and diagnostic reagents to d etect WN virus-specific immune response. We applied a bioinformatics (EpiMa trix) approach to search the WN virus NY99 genome for HLA B*07 restricted c ytotoxic T-cell (CTL) epitopes. Ninety-five of 3,433 WN virus peptides scor ed above a predetermined cutoff, suggesting that these would be likely to b ind to HLA B*07 and would also be likely candidate CTL epitopes. Compared w ith other methods for genome mapping, derivation of these ligands was rapid and inexpensive. Major histocompatibility complex ligands identified by th is method may be used to screen T cells from WN virus-exposed persons for c ell-mediated response to WN virus or to develop diagnostic reagents for imm unopathogenesis studies and epidemiologic surveillance.