Ex vivo analysis of T-cell responses to Epstein-Barr virus-encoded oncogene latent membrane protein 1 reveals highly conserved epitope sequences in virus isolates from diverse geographic regions

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded oncogene latent membrane protein (LMP) 1, which is consistently expressed in multiple EBV-associated malignancies, has been proposed as a potential target antigen for any future vaccine designed to control these malignancies. However, the high degree of genetic variation in the LMP1 sequence has been considered a major impediment for its use as a potential immunotherapeutic target for the treatment of EBV-associated malignancies. In the present study, we have employed a highly efficient strategy, based on ex vivo functional assays, to conduct an extensive sequence-wide analysis of LMP1-specific T-cell responses in a large panel of healthy virus carriers of diverse ethnic origin and nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. By comparing the frequencies of T cells specific for overlapping peptides spanning LMP1, we mapped a number of novel HLA class I- and class II-restricted LMP1 T-cell epitopes, including an epitope with dual HLA class I restriction. More importantly, extensive sequence analysis of LMP1 revealed that the majority of the T-cell epitopes were highly conserved in EBV isolates from Caucasian, Papua New Guinean, African, and Southeast Asian populations, while unique geographically constrained genetic variation was observed within one HLA A2 supertype-restricted epitope. These findings indicate that conserved LMP1 epitopes should be considered in designing epitope-based immunotherapeutic strategies against EBV-associated malignancies in different ethnic populations.