Journal article

Nuclear location of an endogenously expressed antigen, EBNA1, restricts access to macroautophagy and the range of CD4 epitope display

Carol S Leung, Tracey A Haigh, Laura K Mackay, Alan B Rickinson, Graham S Taylor

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | NATL ACAD SCIENCES | Published : 2010

Abstract

Whereas exogenously acquired proteins are the major source of antigens feeding the MHC class II pathway in antigen-presenting cells, some endogenously expressed antigens also access that pathway but the rules governing such access are poorly understood. Here we address this using Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-coded nuclear antigen EBNA1, a protein naturally expressed in EBV-infected B lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) and a source of multiple CD4(+) T cell epitopes. Using CD4(+) T cell clones against three indicator epitopes, we find that two epitopes are weakly displayed on the LCL surface whereas the third is undetectable, a pattern of limited epitope presentation that is maintained even when nu..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Medical Research Council


Awarded by MRC


Funding Acknowledgements

We thank Elena Osdinatova (University of Birmingham) for expert assistance with confocal microscopy. This work was supported by the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, and the Croucher Foundation (Hong Kong).