T2-assembly assay with analog and control peptides.

C-terminal amidated (▪ and free-acid () peptides, whose sequences are shown in Tables 3 and 4, and free-acid control peptides (native, pp65_495-503; HBVc, HBV core antigen_18-27 CTL epitope58) were incubated (100 μM) with T2 cells overnight. The cells were labeled with the mAb BB7.2, and fluorescence was measured by flow cytometry as described in “Materials and methods.” Shown are representative results from 3 separate measurements. The fluorescence ratio was calculated as follows: MFI of T2 cells with peptide/MFI of T2 cells without peptide. The T2 binding assay was repeated twice with similar results, and the ratios shown in the figure represent average values.