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. 2010 Feb 19;6(2):e1000779. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1000779

Figure 3. Downmapping of Gn-derived epitopes and characterization of specific T cells.

Figure 3

(A) Gn-specific T-cell responses among the 51 positive patients, according to amino-terminal (aa 1–230), central (aa 221–450) and carboxy-terminal (aa 441–650) region. Each bar represents the sum of mean triplicate responses towards the peptides representing a given region. (B) aa 451–480 of Gn comprises of highly immunogenic epitopes and is recognized by 8/11 patients with strong responses towards the carboxyterminus of Gn. (C) Surface marker staining of PBMC of specific, IFN-γ secreting CD8+CD45+ after stimulation with 10 µg/ml of Gn- and N-derived 15mer peptides, indicating a predominantly end-differentiated phenotype of specific CD8 memory T-cells. DMSO and PMA/Ionomycin were used as control stimuli. (D) A high percentage of IFN-γ secreting Gn-specific CD8 memory T-cells readily secretes granzyme B upon ex-vivo stimulation with their cognate peptide years after acute ANDV-infection (e.g. p32: 13.2 yrs, p40: 5.4 yrs post hospitalization, respectively).