Figure 1.

Multi-epitope peptide-specific proliferative responses and cytokine secretion. (A) Proliferative responses. Spleen cells from BALB/c mice (n = 3/group) immunized either with individual peptide emulsified in CFA/IFA or PBS alone, were re-stimulated in vitro with the respective peptide (10 μg/ml) for 72 h. Cultures were pulsed for the final 18 h with 1 μCi of [³H]-TdR and results are depicted as Δcpm ± SD as described in Section “Materials and Methods.” Spleen cells derived from mice immunized with PBS alone, stimulated in vitro with ConA (Δcpm: 39743 ± 843) were used for comparison purposes. (B) IFN-γ and (C) IL-10 secretion. Cytokines were detected in culture supernatants of spleen cells from immunized BALB/c mice (n = 5/group), re-stimulated in vitro with the respective peptide (10 μg/ml) for 72 h, by ELISA. The results are expressed as pg/ml ± SD. Significant differences between groups of mice immunized with each synthetic peptide emulsified in CFA/IFA and the group of mice immunized with CFA/IFA alone are indicated by * (P < 0.05).