HLA-E: exploiting pathogen-host interactions for vaccine development.

HLA-E: exploiting pathogen-host interactions for vaccine development. Clin Exp Immunol. 2019 Apr 09;: Authors: Sharpe HR, Bowyer G, Brackenridge S, Lambe T Abstract Viruses, when used as vectors for vaccine antigen delivery, can induce strong cellular and humoral responses against target epitopes. Recent work by Hansen et al. describes the use of a cytomegalovirus-vectored vaccine, which is able to generate a stable effector-memory T cell population at the sites of vaccination in rhesus macaques. This vaccine, targeted towards multiple epitopes in simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), did not induce classical CD8+ T cells. However, non-canonical CD8+ T cell induction occurred via major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II and MHC-E. The MHC-E-restricted T cells could recognize broad epitopes across the SIV peptides, and conferred protection against viral challenge to 55% of vaccinated macaques. The human homologue, human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-E, is now being targeted as a new avenue for vaccine development. In humans, HLA-E is an unusually oligomorphic class Ib MHC molecule, in comparison to highly polymorphic MHC class Ia. Whereas MHC class Ia presents peptides derived from pathogens to T cells, HLA-E classically binds defined leader peptides from class Ia MHC peptides and down-regulates NK cell cytolytic activity when presented on the cell surface. HLA-E can also restrict non-canonical CD8+ T cells during natural infection wi...
Source: Clinical and Developmental Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Tags: Clin Exp Immunol Source Type: research