FIG. 3.

Conservation of ARFP sequences between HCV-JA and genotype 1a, 1b/4, and 3 consensus sequences. (A) The amino acid sequence of the G97A peptide derived from the HCV-JA isolate (genotype 1b) was aligned with the consensus sequences derived from the dominant circulating viral variants carried by the different patients enrolled in the study. The positions of the 4 class I restricted epitopes used in the study (W7L, G7L, A7L, and R7V) are indicated by shaded boxes. Differing amino acids are indicated in boldface type. (B) The 20 sequences of the 4 class I restricted epitopes derived from each patient are aligned with the genotype 1b sequence from which these 9-mer epitopes were derived. Common amino acids between these patients' derived sequences and the corresponding synthetic genotype 1b peptide are represented by dashes while differing amino acids are specified.