FIG. 3.

Analysis of patient HLA-DRB1 and PBMC response to immunodominant epitopes. For six peptides the proliferative PBMC responses in 20 patients were analyzed with respect to the presence or absence of the HLA-DR allele which was identified as presenting the HLA molecule by CD4⁺ T-cell clones (x axis). The stimulation index of each patient is represented by the black dots (y axis). The numbers of patients with positive PBMC responses to the epitope in relation to the total numbers of patients with the respective HLA allele are shown above the panels. For p22 and p24, a significant proliferation was significantly associated with the presence of the HLA-DRB1*15 alleles (**, P < 0.01; *, P < 0.05).