Broad Cross-reactivity with Marked Fine Specificity in the Cytotoxic T Cell Response to Flaviviruses

Cytotoxic T (Tc) cells were generated in mice of five H-2 haplotypes against the flaviviruses Kunjin and West Nile (WNV). A panel of recombinant vaccinia viruses which between them expressed cDNA of the entire Kunjin virus genome were used to infect targets. Anti-Kunjin virus responses to determinants derived from non-structural proteins, especially NS3, NS4A and NS4B, were dominant in most mouse strains; usually only one class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) restriction element was involved. WNV-immune Tc cells showed similar but not identical patterns of antigen recognition to Kunjin virus-immune Tc cells. The extent to which WNV-immune Tc cells recognized Kunjin virus-encoded determinants varied considerably between mice of different MHC haplotypes.