scholarly journals High Throughput T Epitope Mapping and Vaccine Development

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppina Li Pira ◽  
Federico Ivaldi ◽  
Paolo Moretti ◽  
Fabrizio Manca

Mapping of antigenic peptide sequences from proteins of relevant pathogens recognized by T helper (Th) and by cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL) is crucial for vaccine development. In fact, mapping of T-cell epitopes provides useful information for the design of peptide-based vaccines and of peptide libraries to monitor specific cellular immunity in protected individuals, patients and vaccinees. Nevertheless, epitope mapping is a challenging task. In fact, large panels of overlapping peptides need to be tested with lymphocytes to identify the sequences that induce a T-cell response. Since numerous peptide panels from antigenic proteins are to be screened, lymphocytes available from human subjects are a limiting factor. To overcome this limitation, high throughput (HTP) approaches based on miniaturization and automation of T-cell assays are needed. Here we consider the most recent applications of the HTP approach to T epitope mapping. The alternative or complementary use of in silico prediction and experimental epitope definition is discussed in the context of the recent literature. The currently used methods are described with special reference to the possibility of applying the HTP concept to make epitope mapping an easier procedure in terms of time, workload, reagents, cells and overall cost.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Parn ◽  
Gabriel Jabbour ◽  
Vincent Nguyenkhoa ◽  
Sivanesan Dakshanamurthy

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19, has challenged public health at an unprecedented scale which has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide. To design a protective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, it is necessary to understand which SARS-CoV-2 specific epitopes can elicit a T cell response and provide protection across a broad population. In this study, PLpro and RdRp, two immunogenic non-structural proteins from an immunodominant gene region ORF1ab, as well as ORF3a and ORF9b are identified as potential vaccine targets against SARS-CoV-2. To select top epitopes for vaccine design, we used various clinical properties, such as antigenicity, allergenicity, toxicity and IFN-y secretion. The analysis of CD8 and CD4 T cell epitopes revealed multiple potential vaccine constructs that cover a high percentage of the world population. We identified 8 immunogenic, antigenic, non-allergenic, non-toxic, stable and IFN-y inducing CD8 proteins for nsp3, 4 for nsp12, 11 for ORF3a and 3 for ORF9b that are common across four lineages of variants of concern: B.1.1.7, P.1, B.1.351 and B.1.617.2, which protect 98.12%, 87.08%, 96.07% and 63.8% of the world population, respectively. We also identified variant specific T cell epitopes that could be useful in targeting each variant strain separately. Including the prediction of mouse MHC affinity towards our top CD8 epitopes, our study revealed a total of 3 immunogenic, antigenic, non-allergenic, non-toxic, stable and IFN-y inducing CD8 epitopes overlapping with 6 antigenic, non-allergenic, non-toxic, stable and IFN-y inducing CD4 epitopes across all four variants of concern which can effectively be utilized in pre-clinical studies. The landscape of SARS-CoV-2 T cell epitopes that we identified can help lead SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development as well as epitope-based peptide vaccine research in the future.


Author(s):  
Chloe H. Lee ◽  
Mariana Pereira Pinho ◽  
Paul Buckley ◽  
Isaac Woodhouse ◽  
Graham Ogg ◽  
...  

AbstractWhile individuals infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) manifested a broad range in susceptibility and severity to the disease, the pre-existing immune memory of related pathogens can influence the disease outcome. Here, we investigated the potential extent of T cell cross-reactivity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that can be conferred by other coronaviruses and influenza virus, and generated a map of public and private predicted CD8+ T cell epitopes between coronaviruses. Moreover, to assess the potential risk of self-reactivity and/or diminished T cell response for peptides identical or highly similar to the host, we identified predicted epitopes with high sequence similarity with human proteome. Lastly, we compared predicted epitopes from coronaviruses with epitopes from influenza virus deposited in IEDB to support vaccine development against different virus strains. We believe the comprehensive in silico profile of private and public predicted epitopes across coronaviruses and influenza viruses will facilitate design of vaccines capable of protecting against various viral infections.


2009 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 168-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina A. Durward ◽  
Jerome Harms ◽  
Diogo M. Magnani ◽  
Linda Eskra ◽  
Gary A. Splitter

ABSTRACT Brucella spp. are intracellular bacteria that cause the most frequent zoonosis in the world. Although recent work has advanced the field of Brucella vaccine development, there remains no safe human vaccine. In order to produce a safe and effective human vaccine, the immune response to Brucella spp. requires greater understanding. Induction of Brucella-specific CD8+ T cells is considered an important aspect of the host response; however, the CD8+ T-cell response is not clearly defined. Discovering the epitope containing antigens recognized by Brucella-specific CD8+ T cells and correlating them with microarray data will aid in determining proteins critical for vaccine development that cover a kinetic continuum during infection. Developing tools to take advantage of the BALB/c mouse model of Brucella melitensis infection will help to clarify the correlates of immunity and improve the efficacy of this model. Two H-2d CD8+ T-cell epitopes have been characterized, and a group of immunogenic proteins have provoked gamma interferon production by CD8+ T cells. RYCINSASL and NGSSSMATV induced cognate CD8+ T cells after peptide immunization that showed specific killing in vivo. Importantly, we found by microarray analysis that the genes encoding these epitopes are differentially expressed following macrophage infection, further emphasizing that these discordant genes may play an important role in the pathogenesis of B. melitensis infection.


2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (20) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Schöne ◽  
Camilla Patrizia Hrycak ◽  
Sonja Windmann ◽  
Dennis Lapuente ◽  
Ulf Dittmer ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Adenovirus (Ad)-based immunization is a popular approach in vaccine development, and Ad-based vectors are renowned for their potential to induce strong CD8+ T cell responses to the encoded transgene. Surprisingly, we previously found in the mouse Friend retrovirus (FV) model that Ad-based immunization did not induce CD8+ T cell responses to the FV Leader-Gag-derived immunodominant epitope GagL85–93. We show now that induction of GagL85–93-specific CD8+ T cells was highly effective when leader-Gag was delivered by plasmid DNA immunization, implying a role for Ad-derived epitopes in mediating unresponsiveness. By immunizing with DNA constructs encoding strings of GagL85–93 and the two Ad-derived epitopes DNA-binding protein418–426 (DBP418–426) and hexon486–494, we confirmed that Ad epitopes prevent induction of GagL85–93-specific CD8+ T cells. Interestingly, while DBP418–426 did not interfere with GagL85–93-specific CD8+ T cell induction, the H-2Dd-restricted hexon486–494 suppressed the CD8+ T cell response to the H-2Db-restricted GagL85–93 strongly in H-2b/d mice but not in H-2b/b mice. This finding indicates that competition occurs at the level of responding CD8+ T cells, and we could indeed demonstrate that coimmunization with an interleukin 2 (IL-2)-encoding plasmid restored GagL85–93-specific CD8+ T cell responses to epitope strings in the presence of hexon486–494. IL-2 codelivery did not restore GagL85–93 responsiveness in Ad-based immunization, however, likely due to the presence of further epitopes in the Ad vector. Our findings show that seemingly immunodominant transgene epitopes can be dominated by Ad-derived epitopes. These findings underline the importance of thorough characterization of vaccine vectors, and modifications of vectors or immunogens may be required to prevent impaired transgene-specific immune responses. IMPORTANCE Ad-based vectors are widely used in experimental preclinical and clinical immunization studies against numerous infectious agents, such as human immunodeficiency virus, Ebola virus, Plasmodium falciparum, or Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Preexisting immunity to Ad-based vectors is widely recognized as a hindrance to the widespread use of Ad-based vectors for immunizations in humans; however, our data show that an immune response to Ad-derived T cell epitopes can also result in loss or impairment of transgene-specific immune responses in prenaive vaccinees due to immune competition. Our results highlight that seemingly immunodominant epitopes may be affected by dominance of vector-derived epitopes, and modifications of the vector design or the immunogens employed in immunization may lead to more effective vaccines.


2001 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Sbai ◽  
A. Mehta ◽  
A. DeGroot

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. R. W. Tipton ◽  
Y. Hall ◽  
J. A. Bore ◽  
A. White ◽  
L. S. Sibley ◽  
...  

AbstractZaireebolavirus (EBOV) is a highly pathogenic filovirus which can result in Ebola virus disease (EVD); a serious medical condition that presents as flu like symptoms but then often leads to more serious or fatal outcomes. The 2013–16 West Africa epidemic saw an unparalleled number of cases. Here we show characterisation and identification of T cell epitopes in surviving patients from Guinea to the EBOV glycoprotein. We perform interferon gamma (IFNγ) ELISpot using a glycoprotein peptide library to identify T cell epitopes and determine the CD4+ or CD8+ T cell component response. Additionally, we generate data on the T cell phenotype and measure polyfunctional cytokine secretion by these antigen specific cells. We show candidate peptides able to elicit a T cell response in EBOV survivors and provide inferred human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele restriction. This data informs on the long-term T cell response to Ebola virus disease and highlights potentially important immunodominant peptides.


2010 ◽  
Vol 135 ◽  
pp. S19
Author(s):  
Brian Hondowicz ◽  
Katharine Schwedhelm ◽  
Arnold Kas ◽  
Michael Tasch ◽  
Nirasha Ramchurren ◽  
...  

Blood ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 101 (12) ◽  
pp. 4930-4936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotta Hansson ◽  
Hodjattallah Rabbani ◽  
Jan Fagerberg ◽  
Anders Österborg ◽  
Håkan Mellstedt

Abstract The idiotypic structure of the monoclonal immunoglobulin (Ig) in multiple myeloma (MM) might be regarded as a tumor-specific antigen. The present study was designed to identify T-cell epitopes of the variable region of the Ig heavy chain (VH) in MM (n = 5) using bioinformatics and analyze the presence of naturally occurring T cells against idiotype-derived peptides. A large number of human-leukocyte-antigen (HLA)–binding (class I and II) peptides were identified. The frequency of predicted epitopes depended on the database used: 245 in bioinformatics and molecular analysis section (BIMAS) and 601 in SYFPEITHI. Most of the peptides displayed a binding half-life or score in the low or intermediate affinity range. The majority of the predicted peptides were complementarity-determining region (CDR)–rather than framework region (FR)–derived (52%-60% vs 40%-48%, respectively). Most of the predicted peptides were confined to the CDR2-FR3-CDR3 “geographic” region of the Ig-VH region (70%), and significantly fewer peptides were found within the flanking (FR1-CDR1-FR2 and FR4) regions (P < .01). There were 8– to 10–amino acid (aa) long peptides corresponding to the CDRs and fitting to the actual HLA-A/B haplotypes that spontaneously recognized, albeit with a low magnitude, type I T cells (interferon γ), indicating an ongoing major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I–restricted T-cell response. Most of those peptides had a low binding half-life (BIMAS) and a low/intermediate score (SYFPEITHI). Furthermore, 15- to 20-aa long CDR1-3–derived peptides also spontaneously recognized type I T cells, indicating the presence of MHC class II–restricted T cells as well. This study demonstrates that a large number of HLA-binding idiotypic peptides can be identified in patients with MM. Such peptides may spontaneously induce a type I MHC class I– as well as class II–restricted memory T-cell response.


2008 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 896-903 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel M. Stenger ◽  
Martien C. M. Poelen ◽  
Ed E. Moret ◽  
Betsy Kuipers ◽  
Sven C. M. Bruijns ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT P.69 pertactin (P.69 Prn), an adhesion molecule from the causative agent of pertussis, Bordetella pertussis, is present in cellular and most acellular vaccines that are currently used worldwide. Although both humoral immunity and cellular immunity directed against P.69 Prn have been implicated in protective immune mechanisms, the identities of CD4+ T-cell epitopes on the P.69 Prn protein remain unknown. Here, a single I-Ad-restricted B. pertussis conserved CD4+ T-cell epitope at the N terminus of P.69 Prn was identified by using a BALB/c T-cell hybridoma. The epitope appeared immunodominant among four other minor strain-conserved P.69 Prn epitopes recognized after vaccination and B. pertussis infection, and it was capable of evoking a Th1/Th17-type cytokine response. B. pertussis P.69 Prn immune splenocytes did not cross-react with natural variants of the epitope as present in Bordetella parapertussis and Bordetella bronchiseptica. Finally, it was found that the immunodominant P.69 Prn epitope is broadly recognized in the human population by CD4+ T cells in an HLA-DQ-restricted manner. During B. pertussis infection, the epitope was associated with a Th1-type CD4+ T-cell response. Hence, this novel P.69 Prn epitope is involved in CD4+ T-cell immunity after B. pertussis vaccination and infection in mice and, more importantly, in humans. Thus, it may provide a useful tool for the evaluation of the type, magnitude, and maintenance of B. pertussis-specific CD4+ T-cell mechanisms in preclinical and clinical vaccine studies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahreum Kim ◽  
Yun-Gyoung Hur ◽  
Sunwha Gu ◽  
Sang-Nae Cho

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective efficacy of MTBK_24820, a complete form of PPE39 protein derived from a predominant Beijing/K strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in South Korea. Mice were immunized with MTKB_24820, M. bovis Bacilli Calmette-Guérin (BCG), or adjuvant prior to a high-dosed Beijing/K strain aerosol infection. After 4 and 9 weeks, bacterial loads were determined and histopathologic and immunologic features in the lungs and spleens of the M. tuberculosis-infected mice were analyzed. Putative immunogenic T-cell epitopes were examined using synthetic overlapping peptides. Successful immunization of MTBK_24820 in mice was confirmed by increased IgG responses (P < 0.05) and recalled gamma interferon (IFN-γ), interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-6, and IL-17 responses (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01) to MTBK_24820. After challenge with the Beijing/K strain, an approximately 0.5 to 1.0 log10 reduction in CFU in lungs and fewer lung inflammation lesions were observed in MTBK_24820-immunized mice compared to those for control mice. Moreover, MTBK_24820 immunization elicited significantly higher numbers of CD4+ T cells producing protective cytokines, such as IFN-γ and IL-17, in lungs and spleens (P < 0.01) and CD4+ multifunctional T cells producing IFN-γ, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and/or IL-17 (P < 0.01) than in control mice, suggesting protection comparable to that of BCG against the hypervirulent Beijing/K strain. The dominant immunogenic T-cell epitopes that induced IFN-γ production were at the N terminus (amino acids 85 to 102 and 217 to 234). Its vaccine potential, along with protective immune responses in vivo, may be informative for vaccine development, particularly in regions where the M. tuberculosis Beijing/K-strain is frequently isolated from TB patients.


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