Description
Background information
HHV-6 is a ubiquitous β-herpesvirus which is widespread among humans. It exists as two closely related variants: HHV-6A and HHV-6B, with HHV-6B being the primary cause of roseola infantum (exanthem subitum), while HHV-6A is less well characterized but has been associated with neurological diseases and multiple sclerosis. Both variants establish lifelong latency (a state where the viral genome persists without active production of infectious virions), mainly in mononuclear cells, and can reactivate, especially in immunocompromised individuals (e.g., transplant recipients). The U54 protein of HHV-6 is a tegument protein and required for IL-2 suppression in infected host cells. By this mechanism U54 is important for the immune evasion of the virus, especially for the HHV6b subtype, whereas HHV6a does not show a similar effect.
The PepTivator Peptide Pools have been specially developed for efficient in vitro stimulation of antigen-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in various applications. Stimulation of T cells with PepTivator Peptide Pools causes the secretion of effector cytokines and upregulation of activation markers, which then allows the detection or isolation of antigen-specific T cells. Quantitative, phenotypical, or functional analysis of antigen-specific T cell immunity can provide important information on the natural course of immune responses in healthy or immunocompromised individuals.
Overview
PepTivator® HHV-6 U54 Select, is a pool of lyophilized peptides, covering important MHC-I and MHC-II epitopes of the U54 protein (UniProt ID: Q9QJ29) of the human herpes virus type 6 (HHV-6) variant B.
In vitro stimulation of antigen-specific T cells with PepTivator Peptide Pools causes the secretion of effector cytokines and the up-regulation of activation markers, which then allow the detection and isolation of antigen-specific T cells.
