Clustering of CD8 T cell reponses against the HBV core and surface proteins within different HLA alleles: Immunodominance analisys in patients with diverse genetic background

Background. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) recognizing HLA class I-restricted viral epitopes are considered an important arm of antiviral immune defense and broadly targeted viral proteins would be suitable as therapeutic vaccine candidates. For HBV HLA allele-specific assessments have been performed in the past but always limited to traditionally well studied, HLA class I alleles such as HLA-A2. Thus, little is known about immunodominant epitopes presented on other alleles that are infrequent in Caucasians.