Rotavirus-Specific Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes Recognize Overlapping Epitopes in the Amino-Terminal Region of the VP7 Glycoprotein

Abstract Rotavirus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) play an important role in the resolution of rotavirus infection. The outer capsid glycoprotein, VP7, elicits a class I MHC-restricted CTL response. Vaccinia virus recombinants expressing the VP7 genes from simian rotavirus SA11 (serotype G3) and from the RF strain of bovine rotavirus (serotype G6) were used to analyze the CTL activity to this antigen in BALB/c (H-2 d ) and C57BL/6 (H-2 b ) mice neonatally infected with homologous and heterologous rotaviruses. A vaccinia virus recombinant expressing the first amino-terminal 88 amino acids of VP7 was constructed and used to search for cross-reactive CTL against this region of the prote…