@article{mbs:/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.79945-0, author = "Maeda, Ken and West, Kim and Toyosaki-Maeda, Tomoko and Rothman, Alan L. and Ennis, Francis A. and Terajima, Masanori", title = "Identification and analysis for cross-reactivity among hantaviruses of H-2b-restricted cytotoxic T-lymphocyte epitopes in Sin Nombre virus nucleocapsid protein", journal= "Journal of General Virology", year = "2004", volume = "85", number = "7", pages = "1909-1919", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.79945-0", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.79945-0", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1465-2099", type = "Journal Article", abstract = "Sin Nombre virus (SNV) causes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), with a high rate of mortality in humans who are infected by the transmission of virus from the natural rodent host. In humans, cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) specific for SNV appear to play an important role in the pathogenicity of HPS. There is a correlation between the frequencies of SNV-specific CTLs and the severity of HPS disease. In order to create a mouse model to study the role of SNV-specific T cells in vivo, T cell responses to SNV nucleocapsid (N) protein in B6.PL Thy1 a/Cy mice (H-2b) immunized with plasmid DNA or recombinant vaccinia virus expressing SNV N protein were examined. Four peptides, NC94–101, NC175–189, NC217–231 and NC331–345, were recognized by CD8+ T cells in CTL and ELISPOT assays in SNV N-immunized mice. Interestingly, two of these epitopes are located in the central region of the SNV N protein, where several human CD8+ T-cell epitopes have been defined in Puumala virus and SNV. CTL lines specific for these four epitopes were cross-reactive to corresponding Puumala virus peptides, but only one of them was cross-reactive to Hantaan virus peptides. These results will enable the analysis of the roles of CTL in immunopathology of HPS in experimental mouse models of HPS.", }