N Harashima, R Tanosaki, Y Shimizu, K Kurihara, T Masuda, J Okamura, M Kannagi. (2005). " Identification of two new HLA-A*1101-restricted tax epitopes recognized by cytotoxic T lymphocytes in an adult T-cell leukemia patient after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. " J Virol. 79, 10088-92. PMID: 16014972 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.79.15.10088-10092.2005
We previously reported that Tax-specific CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), directed to single epitopes restricted by HLA-A2 or A24, expanded in vitro and in vivo in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from some adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) patients after but not before allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Here, we demonstrated similar Tax-specific CTL expansion in PBMC from another post-HSCT ATL patient without HLA-A2 or A24, whose CTLs equally recognized two newly identified epitopes, Tax88-96 and Tax272-280, restricted by HLA-A11, suggesting that these immunodominant Tax epitopes are present in the ATL patient in vivo.