Viral Diversity Influences T Cell Responses to Enteric Human Adenoviruses F40 and F41

Background Human enteric species F adenoviruses are a leading cause of diarrhoea-associated paediatric morbidity and mortality worldwide. The cellular immune response (antigen-specific cytotoxic T cells and secreted cytokines) to human adenovirus (HAdV) infection is known to ameliorate symptoms and is critical for viral clearance. We hypothesised that the capsid proteins (hexon and penton) of HAdV-F40 and 41 (F40, F41) are evolving to escape cellular immune responses. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) binding of viral peptides is a key step in the presentation of peptide-MHC complexes which activate the T cell receptor and the cytotoxic T cell response. Methods Using global HAdV genomic data, we predicted MHC-peptide binding within the hexon and penton proteins of F40 and F41. We focused on MHC class I alleles common in the UK and Kenya and identifying predicted CD8 + T cell epitopes. Eight predicted epitope pairs from the F41 hexon were synthesised as 15mer peptides, comparing the wildtype (1970 F41 reference) to the variant (2019-2022) sequences. Cellular IFNγ responses to these epitopes were measured in healthy donors using FluoroSpot assays. Results We identified multiple predicted CD8 + T cell epitopes shared between HAdV-species C and F, but also unique to species F, and epitopes unique to each genotype. We show that IFNγ and IL2 peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) responses to HAdV-F are ubiquitous among healthy adult donors from Cambridge, UK. Among predicted CD8 + epitopes within the F41 hexon, 11/16 peptides elicited donor positive IFNγ responses from healthy donor PBMC (at least one epitope from seven out of eight peptide pairs). Conclusions The hexon and penton proteins of HAdV-F-40 and F41 are predicted to contain a number of genotype-specific, but conserved, CD8 + T cell epitopes which could be used to inform future vaccine design. Using the hexon of F41 as a case study, we show that predicted T cell epitopes in emergent strains are able to elicit an inflammatory cytokine response from healthy donor PBMC. The role of T cell recognition in driving enteric adenovirus evolution deserves further consideration.