Figure 3
Correlation between cytokine gene expression and lytic activity in T cells stimulated by BKV LTag epitopes. Panels display correlations between IFN-γ gene expression, reported as fold increase, as compared to unstimulated cells, and specific cytotoxic activity as detectable upon 3-week in vitro culture at a 50:1 E:T ratio. Correlations were significant either when overall responses to LTag epitopes were analyzed (Pearson's R = 0.820, p = 0.0001, panel A) or when responses to both p53-binding domain LTag351–450 (Pearson's R = 0.640, p = 0.003, panel B) and LTag533–626 (Pearson's R = 0.898, p = 0.02, panel C) were separately evaluated. These data firmly establish that the ability of discrete peptides to induce specific cytotoxicity can be reliably predicted based on their degree of "ex vivo" stimulatory capacity regarding IFN-γ gene expression.