Uncovering the Peptide-Binding Specificities of HLA-C: A General Strategy To Determine the Specificity of Any MHC Class I Molecule

Michael Rasmussen, Mikkel Harndahl, Anette Stryhn, Rachid Boucherma, Lise Lotte Nielsen, François A Lemonnier, Morten Nielsen, Søren Buus

    Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

    63 Citationer (Scopus)

    Abstract

    MHC class I molecules (HLA-I in humans) present peptides derived from endogenous proteins to CTLs. Whereas the peptide-binding specificities of HLA-A and -B molecules have been studied extensively, little is known about HLA-C specificities. Combining a positional scanning combinatorial peptide library approach with a peptide-HLA-I dissociation assay, in this study we present a general strategy to determine the peptide-binding specificity of any MHC class I molecule. We applied this novel strategy to 17 of the most common HLA-C molecules, and for 16 of these we successfully generated matrices representing their peptide-binding motifs. The motifs prominently shared a conserved C-terminal primary anchor with hydrophobic amino acid residues, as well as one or more diverse primary and auxiliary anchors at P1, P2, P3, and/or P7. Matrices were used to generate a large panel of HLA-C-specific peptide-binding data and update our pan-specific NetMHCpan predictor, whose predictive performance was considerably improved with respect to peptide binding to HLA-C. The updated predictor was used to assess the specificities of HLA-C molecules, which were found to cover a more limited sequence space than HLA-A and -B molecules. Assessing the functional significance of these new tools, HLA-C*07:01 transgenic mice were immunized with stable HLA-C*07:01 binders; six of six tested stable peptide binders were immunogenic. Finally, we generated HLA-C tetramers and labeled human CD8(+) T cells and NK cells. These new resources should support future research on the biology of HLA-C molecules. The data are deposited at the Immune Epitope Database, and the updated NetMHCpan predictor is available at the Center for Biological Sequence Analysis and the Immune Epitope Database.

    OriginalsprogEngelsk
    TidsskriftJournal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950)
    Vol/bind193
    Sider (fra-til)4790-4802
    Antal sider13
    ISSN0022-1767
    DOI
    StatusUdgivet - 13 okt. 2014

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