Human cytotoxic T-cell recognition of a synthetic peptide of myelin basic protein

J R Richert1, E D Robinson, G E Deibler

  • 1Department of Neurology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007.

Annals of Neurology
|September 1, 1989
PubMed

Previous studies with a panel of myelin basic protein (MBP)-specific human T-cell clones suggested a clustering of epitopes in the middle and at the C terminus of the molecule. The current study demonstrates that 19 of 40 clones recognize a synthetic peptide corresponding to residues 152 to 170 of the human MBP molecule and that 9 clones recognize a synthetic peptide corresponding to residues 86 to 105. Myelin basic protein-specific cytotoxic activity was restricted to the clones that recognized peptide 152-170, and this peptide served as a preferential cytotoxic T-cell target when attached to an autologous B-cell line. The specificity of MBP-directed cytotoxic activity appears to be much more restricted than the specificity demonstrated for proliferative activity.

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