Cross-presentation of HCMV chimeric protein enables generation and measurement of polyclonal T cells

Abstract

CD8 T cell immunity has a critical function in controlling human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection. In immunocompromized individuals, HCMV reactivation or disease can lead to increased morbidity and mortality, particularly in transplant recipients. In this setting, adoptive transfer of HCMV-specific CD8 T cells is a promising vaccine strategy to restore viral immunity, with most clinical approaches focussing on the use of peptides for the generation of single epitope-specific CD8 T cells. We show that using an IE1-pp65 chimeric protein as the antigen source promotes effective cross-presentation, by monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MoDCs), to generate polyclonal CD8 T cell epitopes. By explor..