Quantification of repertoire diversity of influenza-specific epitopes with predominant public or private TCR usage

Abstract

The H-2Db-restricted CD8 T cell immune response to influenza A is directed at two well-described epitopes, nucleoprotein 366 (NP366) and acid polymerase 224 (PA224). The responses to the two epitopes are very different. The epitope NP366-specific response is dominated by TCR clonotypes that are public (shared by most mice), whereas the epitope PA224-specific response is private (unique within each infected animal). In addition to being public, the NP366-specific response is dominated by a few clonotypes, when T cell clonotypes expressing the Vβ8.3 element are analyzed. Herein, we show that this response is similarly public when the NP366+Vβ4+ CD8 T cell response is analyzed. Furthermore, to ..