Identification of murine T-cell epitopes in Ebola virus nucleoprotein.

CD8 T cells play an important role in controlling Ebola infection and in mediating vaccine-induced protective immunity, yet little is known about antigenic targets in Ebola that are recognized by CD8 T cells. Overlapping peptides were used to identify major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted epitopes in mice immunized with vectors encoding Ebola nucleoprotein (NP). CD8 T-cell responses were mapped to a H-2(d)-restricted epitope (NP279-288) and two H-2(b)-restricted epitopes (NP44-52 and NP288-296). The identification of these epitopes will facilitate studies of immune correlates of protection and the evaluation of vaccine strategies in murine models of Ebola infection.