Establishment of antigen presenting cells model of Plasmodium falciparum cytotoxic T lymphocyte single epitope vaccine

Objective: To construct plasmodium falciparum cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) single epitope vaccine and establish antigen presenting cells model.

Methods: Gene encoding HLA-A11 restricted plasmodium falciparum CTL epitope (VTCGNGIQVR), which was in high frequency among Chinese population, was chosen and cloned into an eukaryotic expressing vector to form CTL single epitope vaccine: pcDNA3.1/beta 2m/A11. This plasmid was transfected and expressed in cell lines bearing only HLA-A11 molecule. The expressions of HLA class I molecules were accessed by flow cytometry.

Results: The CTL single epitope was expressed in HLA-A11 cell lines and an obviously increased expressions of HLA class were detected in the transfected cell lines, and evaluated as mean channel number of fluorescence by flow cytometry (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: CTL single epitope expressing plasmid was constructed and the antigen presenting cells model was established. It was demonstrated that plasmodium falciparum CTL single epitope was effectively processed and expressed. Our work suggested the single-epitope vaccine might provide protection for populations which containing HLA-A11 background.