Immunoprotective Leishmania major synthetic T cell epitopes.

Using the predictive algorithm of Rothbard and Taylor (1988. EMBO J. 7:93) and the primary structure of gp63 (Button, L., and M.R. McMaster. 1988. J. Exp. Med. 167:724; Miller, R.A., S.G. Reed, and M. Parsons. 1990. Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 39:267) we have been able to delineate the structures of a number of gp63 T-cell epitopes which stimulate the proliferation of CD4+ cells. One of these synthetic antigens, inoculated subcutaneously with adjuvant, was shown to specifically induce proliferation of the Th1 subset and provided immunoprotection against two species of Leishmania parasites.