Epstein-Barr virus peptide-Major Histocompatibility Complex class I complex (EBV pMHC I) (EBV pMHC I)

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) peptide-Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class I complex is a molecular assembly consisting of EBV-derived antigenic peptides bound to MHC class I (HLA) molecules on the surface of infected B cells and plasma cells (Taylor et al., 2015). These complexes are the primary targets for CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes, which recognize the viral epitopes via their T-cell receptors (TCRs) to initiate the destruction of infected cells (Prock et al., 2023). In diseases such as post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) and EBV-associated lymphomas, these complexes serve as critical therapeutic targets for adoptive cell therapies like tabelecleucel, which utilizes EBV-specific T cells to eliminate malignant cells (EMA, 2022). Recent evidence also links these EBV-infected cells to the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis, suggesting that targeting these pMHC complexes could deplete the viral reservoirs driving autoimmune responses (Bjornevik et al., 2022; Lanz et al., 2022). The therapeutic utility of this target is highly dependent on the specific HLA allele of the patient and the expression of latent or lytic viral proteins (Dahan and Reiter, 2012).

Other names

EBV peptide-HLA complexEBV-specific pMHCEBV-derived epitopes on MHC-IEBV pMHCEBV-derived peptides presented on MHC class I

T-cell receptor (TCR) mediated recognition and subsequent cytotoxic cell lysis of EBV-infected cells.