FIG. 2.

Further definition of the major epitopes in 3D protein. (A) CD4⁺ T cells producing IFN-γ upon stimulation with peptides were verified by flow cytometry after intracellular staining of pooled CNS mononuclear cells from five mice. The proportion of IFN-γ-producing CD4⁺ T cells is shown here. The level of IFN-γ producing CD8⁺ T cells was undetectable (not shown). (B) To further define the epitope regions of 3D recognized by CNS-infiltrating CD4⁺ T cells, 3D peptides truncated at their N and C termini were assessed for their ability to stimulate IFN-γ production. Activation of CD4⁺ T ells (from five mice) was analyzed by flow cytometry after intracellular staining of IFN-γ and CD4. The data are representative of three separate experiments. The backgrounds for all individual assays were <10% of the spots at the maximal stimulation.