skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Broadly targeted CD8+ T cell responses restricted by major histocompatibility complex E

Journal Article · · Science

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-E is a highly conserved, ubiquitously expressed, nonclassical, MHC-Ib molecule with limited polymorphism primarily involved in regulation of NK cell reactivity via interaction with NKG2/CD94 receptors. We found that vaccination of rhesus macaques with Rh157.5/.4 gene-deleted rhesus Cytomegalovirus (RhCMV) vectors uniquely diverts MHC-E function to presentation of highly diverse peptide epitopes to CD8α/β+ T cells, approximately 4 distinct epitopes per 100 amino acids, in all tested protein antigens. Computational structural analysis revealed that a relatively stable, open binding groove in MHC-E attains broad peptide binding specificity by imposing a similar backbone configuration on bound peptides with few restrictions based on amino acid side chains. Since MHC-E is up-regulated on cells infected with HIV/SIV and other persistent viruses to evade NK cell activity, MHC-E-restricted CD8+ T cell responses have the potential to exploit pathogen immune evasion adaptations, a capability that might endow these unconventional responses with superior efficacy.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Institutes of Health (NIH); Work for Others (WFO)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396; 1K01DK094941; 5U01DK89572; DK104211; 5-CDA2014210-A-N; 1R01DK081166
OSTI ID:
1355834
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1304811
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-15-24868; science.aac9475
Journal Information:
Science, Journal Name: Science Vol. 351 Journal Issue: 6274; ISSN 0036-8075
Publisher:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 198 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (51)

Immune clearance of highly pathogenic SIV infection journal September 2013
Acute phase cytotoxic T lymphocyte escape is a hallmark of simian immunodeficiency virus infection journal May 2002
Subtle Changes in Peptide Conformation Profoundly Affect Recognition of the Non-Classical MHC Class I Molecule HLA-E by the CD94–NKG2 Natural Killer Cell Receptors journal April 2008
Viral modulation of NK cell immunity journal January 2005
Cytomegalovirus Vectors Violate CD8+ T Cell Epitope Recognition Paradigms journal May 2013
Effector memory T cell responses are associated with protection of rhesus monkeys from mucosal simian immunodeficiency virus challenge journal February 2009
The other Janus face of Qa-1 and HLA-E: diverse peptide repertoires in times of stress journal November 2010
Sub-angstrom modeling of complexes between flexible peptides and globular proteins journal January 2010
Towards a systems understanding of MHC class I and MHC class II antigen presentation journal November 2011
Improved side-chain torsion potentials for the Amber ff99SB protein force field journal January 2010
Activating CD94:NKG2C and inhibitory CD94:NKG2A receptors are expressed by distinct subsets of committed CD8+ TCR ?? lymphocytes journal December 2004
The HLA-A2 Restricted T Cell Epitope HCV Core35–44 Stabilizes HLA-E Expression and Inhibits Cytolysis Mediated by Natural Killer Cells journal February 2005
Human CD8 T lymphocytes recognize Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens presented by HLA-E during active tuberculosis and express type 2 cytokines : Immunity to infection journal February 2015
A highly sensitive selection method for directed evolution of homing endonucleases journal October 2005
Impact of MHC class I diversity on immune control of immunodeficiency virus replication journal August 2008
P-LINCS:  A Parallel Linear Constraint Solver for Molecular Simulation journal December 2007
Confronting Complexity: Real-World Immunodominance in Antiviral CD8+ T Cell Responses journal October 2006
Composition Profiler: a tool for discovery and visualization of amino acid composition differences journal January 2007
Cutting Edge: The Human Cytomegalovirus UL40 Gene Product Contains a Ligand for HLA-E and Prevents NK Cell-Mediated Lysis journal May 2000
GROMACS 4.5: a high-throughput and highly parallel open source molecular simulation toolkit journal February 2013
Gag-Specific CD8 + T Lymphocytes Recognize Infected Cells before AIDS-Virus Integration and Viral Protein Expression journal February 2007
Comparative Protein Structure Modeling Using MODELLER journal September 2014
Epock: rapid analysis of protein pocket dynamics journal December 2014
A new method for predicting binding affinity in computer-aided drug design journal January 1994
Alternative peptide repertoire of HLA-E reveals a binding motif that is strikingly similar to HLA-A2 journal January 2013
The major histocompatibility complex class Ib molecule HLA-E at the interface between innate and adaptive immunity journal November 2008
Major histocompatibility complex genotyping with massively parallel pyrosequencing journal October 2009
Regulation and trafficking of the HLA-E molecules during monocyte-macrophage differentiation journal August 2015
WebLogo: A Sequence Logo Generator journal May 2004
Simple and highly efficient BAC recombineering using galK selection journal February 2005
HLA-E binds to natural killer cell receptors CD94/NKG2A, B and C journal February 1998
HLA-E is a major ligand for the natural killer inhibitory receptor CD94/NKG2A journal April 1998
Clinical and immunological significance of HLA-E in stem cell transplantation and cancer: HLA-E in transplantation and cancer journal November 2014
Basic and translational applications of engineered MHC class I proteins journal October 2010
The Mycobacterium tuberculosis Phagosome Is a HLA-I Processing Competent Organelle journal April 2009
The Cytoplasmic Domain of Rhesus Cytomegalovirus Rh178 Interrupts Translation of Major Histocompatibility Class I Leader Peptide-Containing Proteins prior to Translocation journal June 2011
Analysis of HLA-E Peptide-Binding Specificity and Contact Residues in Bound Peptide Required for Recognition by CD94/NKG2 journal July 2003
Human Cytomegalovirus UL40 Signal Peptide Regulates Cell Surface Expression of the NK Cell Ligands HLA-E and gpUL18 journal February 2012
Rosetta FlexPepDock web server—high resolution modeling of peptide–protein interactions journal May 2011
Molecular dynamics with coupling to an external bath journal October 1984
The Emerging Role of HLA-E-Restricted CD8 + T Lymphocytes in the Adaptive Immune Response to Pathogens and Tumors journal January 2010
Subangstrom Accuracy in pHLA-I Modeling by Rosetta FlexPepDock Refinement Protocol journal July 2014
Rapid modification of bacterial artificial chromosomes by ET- recombination journal March 1999
Establishment of a quantitative ELISA capable of determining peptide - MHC class I interaction journal April 2002
New Paradigms for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development journal February 2012
Profound early control of highly pathogenic SIV by an effector memory T-cell vaccine journal May 2011
What determines the van der Waals coefficient ? in the LIE (linear interaction energy) method to estimate binding free energies using molecular dynamics simulations? journal February 1999
A smooth particle mesh Ewald method journal November 1995
The role of mhc polymorphism in anti-microbial resistance journal April 2004
HLA-E Allelic Variants: CORRELATING DIFFERENTIAL EXPRESSION, PEPTIDE AFFINITIES, CRYSTAL STRUCTURES, AND THERMAL STABILITIES journal October 2002
Efficient replication of rhesus cytomegalovirus variants in multiple rhesus and human cell types journal December 2008

Cited By (33)

Herpesviral vectors and their application in oncolytic therapy, vaccination, and gene transfer journal June 2017
Prevention of tuberculosis in rhesus macaques by a cytomegalovirus-based vaccine journal January 2018
Induction of complex immune responses and strong protection against retrovirus challenge by adenovirus-based immunization depends on the order of vaccine delivery journal February 2017
Why and where an HIV cure is needed and how it might be achieved journal December 2019
Current views on the potential for development of a HIV vaccine journal January 2017
Conservation of molecular and cellular phenotypes of invariant NKT cells between humans and non-human primates journal May 2019
Fuel and brake of memory T cell inflation journal March 2019
International AIDS Society global scientific strategy: towards an HIV cure 2016 journal July 2016
Pathogen-derived HLA-E bound epitopes reveal broad primary anchor pocket tolerability and conformationally malleable peptide binding journal August 2018
Nonhuman primate models of human viral infections journal March 2018
Early antiretroviral therapy limits SIV reservoir establishment to delay or prevent post-treatment viral rebound journal August 2018
HLA class II-Restricted CD8+ T cells in HIV-1 Virus Controllers journal July 2019
Characterization of a live-attenuated HCMV-based vaccine platform journal December 2019
Accelerating HIV vaccine development using non-human primate models journal December 2018
Aiming for protective T-cell responses: a focus on the first generation conserved-region HIVconsv vaccines in preventive and therapeutic clinical trials journal October 2019
Is a Human CD8 T-Cell Vaccine Possible, and if So, What Would It Take?: CD8 T-Cell Vaccines: To B or Not to B? journal December 2017
Is a Human CD8 T-Cell Vaccine Possible, and if So, What Would It Take?: Could a CD8 + T-Cell Vaccine Prevent Persistent HIV Infection? journal December 2017
Latency reversal and viral clearance to cure HIV-1 journal July 2016
Delayed differentiation of potent effector CD8 + T cells reducing viremia and reservoir seeding in acute HIV infection journal February 2017
Enhancing safety of cytomegalovirus-based vaccine vectors by engaging host intrinsic immunity journal July 2019
A live-attenuated RhCMV/SIV vaccine shows long-term efficacy against heterologous SIV challenge journal July 2019
A Recombinant Rhesus Monkey Rhadinovirus Deleted of Glycoprotein L Establishes Persistent Infection of Rhesus Macaques and Elicits Conventional T Cell Responses journal October 2019
CD8+ T-cell responses in vaccination: reconsidering targets and function in the context of chronic antigen stimulation journal January 2018
Understanding the CD8 T-cell response in natural HIV control journal January 2018
Natural Killer Cell Evasion Is Essential for Infection by Rhesus Cytomegalovirus journal August 2016
Cross-Species Rhesus Cytomegalovirus Infection of Cynomolgus Macaques journal November 2016
HCMV triggers frequent and persistent UL40-specific unconventional HLA-E-restricted CD8 T-cell responses with potential autologous and allogeneic peptide recognition journal April 2018
Casting a wider net: Immunosurveillance by nonclassical MHC molecules journal February 2019
Features of Effective T Cell-Inducing Vaccines against Chronic Viral Infections journal February 2018
Discrimination Between Human Leukocyte Antigen Class I-Bound and Co-Purified HIV-Derived Peptides in Immunopeptidomics Workflows journal April 2018
HLA-E Polymorphism Determines Susceptibility to BK Virus Nephropathy after Living-Donor Kidney Transplant journal August 2019
Promising Cytomegalovirus-Based Vaccine Vector Induces Robust CD8+ T-Cell Response journal September 2019
A herpesvirus encoded Qa-1 mimic inhibits natural killer cell cytotoxicity through CD94/NKG2A receptor engagement journal December 2018