Differential functional patterns of memory CD4 and CD8 T-cells from volunteers immunized with Ty21a typhoid vaccine observed using a recombinant Escherichia coli system expressing S. Typhi proteins.

It is widely accepted that CD4 and CD8 T-cells play a significant role in protection against Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi), the causative agent of the typhoid fever. However, the antigen specificity of these T-cells remains largely unknown.

H7N9 T-cell epitopes that mimic human sequences are less immunogenic and may induce Treg-mediated tolerance.

Avian-origin H7N9 influenza is a novel influenza A virus (IAV) that emerged in humans in China in 2013. Using immunoinformatics tools, we identified several H7N9 T cell epitopes with T cell receptor (TCR)-facing residues identical to those of multiple epitopes from human proteins. We hypothesized that host tolerance to these peptides may impair T helper response and contribute to the low titer, weak hemagglutination inhibiting (HI) antibody responses and diminished seroconversion rates that have been observed in human H7N9 infections and vaccine trials.

Peptide-pulsed dendritic cells induce the hepatitis C viral epitope-specific responses of naïve human T cells.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of liver disease. Spontaneous resolution of infection is associated with broad, MHC class I- (CD8(+)) and class II-restricted (CD4(+)) T cell responses to multiple viral epitopes. Only 20% of patients clear infection spontaneously, however, most develop chronic disease.

Conservation of HIV-1 T cell epitopes across time and clades: validation of immunogenic HLA-A2 epitopes selected for the GAIA HIV vaccine.

HIV genomic sequence variability has complicated efforts to generate an effective globally relevant vaccine. Regions of the viral genome conserved in sequence and across time may represent the "Achilles' heel" of HIV. In this study, highly conserved T-cell epitopes were selected using immunoinformatics tools combining HLA-A2 supertype binding predictions with relative global conservation.

Further progress on defining highly conserved immunogenic epitopes for a global HIV vaccine: HLA-A3-restricted GAIA vaccine epitopes.

Two major obstacles confronting HIV vaccine design have been the extensive viral diversity of HIV-1 globally and viral evolution driven by escape from CD8(+) cytotoxic T-cell lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated immune pressure. Regions of the viral genome that are not able to escape immune response and that are conserved in sequence and across time may represent the "Achilles' heel" of HIV and would be excellent candidates for vaccine development. In this study, T-cell epitopes were selected using immunoinformatics tools, combining HLA-A3 binding predictions with relative sequence conservation in the context of global HIV evolution.