Patent ID: 7378234

Claim:
A method for isolating Hepatitis C Virus peptides (HPs) or isolating HCV T cell epitopes which have a binding capacity to a purified, recombinant MHC/HLA molecule or a complex comprising the HCV-peptide or HCV T cell epitope and the purified, recombinant MHC/HLA molecule, the method comprising: providing a pool comprising at least 10 HCV peptides, the pool containing HCV-peptides which bind to the purified, recombinant MHC/HLA molecule (binding HCV peptides) and HCV-peptides which do not bind to the purified, recombinant MHC/HLA molecule (non-binding HCV peptides); contacting the purified, recombinant MHC/HLA molecule with the pool of HCV-peptides whereby a binding HCV-peptide binds to the purified, recombinant MHC/HLA molecule and a complex comprising the HCV-peptide and the purified, recombinant MHC/HLA molecule is formed; detecting the complex and, optionally, separating the complex from non-binding HCV peptides; optionally isolating and characterizing the binding HCV peptides from the complex; assaying the complex or the optionally isolated binding HCV peptides in a T cell assay for T cell activation capacity; and identifying optionally isolated binding HCV peptides with T cell activation capacity as a T cell epitope or the complex.