Fig. 5

Immunization of C57BL/6 mice with NP peptides triggers specific and functional cytotoxic cells. Spleen cells from mice immunized with PBS/CpG/HBV/IFA or with the indicated NP peptides mixed in CpG/HBV/IFA were restimulated for 5 days with matching NP peptides (10 μg/ml). In the case of immunization with PBS/CpG/HBV/IFA, splenocytes were restimulated with each of the NP peptides. Various concentrations of immune effectors specific for 23-31NP or 33-41NP were incubated for 4 h in the presence of ⁵¹Cr-labeled peptide-loaded RMAS cells (10⁵ cells/wells) or of ⁵¹Cr-labeled 1C11 cells (2 × 10⁴/wells). In the case of immunization with PBS/CpG/HBV/IFA, splenocytes were incubated with one or the other peptide-loaded RMAS cells or medium alone. Results are reported as the percentage of cytotoxicity calculated as described in Methods section. Results are representative of two independent experiments