In the present study, two programs BIMAS (http://www-bimas.cit.nih.gov/molbio/hla_bind/) and SYFPEITH (http://www.syfpeithi.de/Scripts/MHCServer.dll/EpitopePrediction.htm) were used to identify the candidate HLA-A2 restricted CTL epitopes from the neuritin antigen. The candidate peptides validated by epitope prediction were then synthesized by Fmoc chemistry (Sangon, China), and purified by HPLC to a purity of >95 %. Lyophilized peptides were dissolved in DMSO at a concentration of 20 mg/ml and stored at −70 °C. The control peptide HBcAg (18–27) (FLPSDFFPSV) was synthesized and purified using the same methodology.