Computational grafting of functional motifs onto scaffold proteins is a promising way to engineer novel proteins with pre-specified functionalities. Typically, protein grafting involves the transplantation of protein side chains from a functional motif onto structurally homologous regions of scaffold proteins. Using this approach, we previously transplanted the human immunodeficiency virus 2F5 ...

Background: Bioinformatic approaches for designing vaccines have become a promising alternative to conventional methods. We herein designed a multi-epitope-based vaccine against colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Used peptides in the CRC vaccines were retrieved from databases of PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Clinical trials. The adjuvants of Mycobacterial heparin-binding hemagglut...

Tc40 is an immunodominant antigen present in natural Trypanosoma cruzi infections. This immunogen was thoroughly mapped by using overlapping amino acid sequences identified by gene cloning and chemical peptide synthesis. To map continuous epitopes of the Tc40 antigen, an epitope expression library was constructed and screened with sera from human chagasic patients. A major, linear B-cell epitop...

Clinical trials of malaria vaccines have confirmed that parasite-derived T-cell epitopes are required to elicit consistent and long-lasting immune responses. We report here the identification and functional characterization of six T-cell epitopes that are present in the merozoite surface protein-1 of Plasmodium vivax (PvMSP-1) and bind promiscuously to four different HLA-DRB1* alleles. Each of ...

Vaccination strategies for Staphylococcus aureus, particularly methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infections have attracted much research attention. Recent efforts have been made to select manganese transport protein C, or manganese binding surface lipoprotein C (MntC), which is a metal ion associated with pathogen nutrition uptake, as potential candidates for an S. aureus vaccine. Although...

Betanodavirus is a causative agent of viral nervous necrosis syndrome in many important aquaculture marine fish larvae, resulting in high global mortality. The coat protein of Betanodavirus is the sole structural protein, and it can assemble the virion particle by itself. In this study, we used a high-titer neutralizing mAB, RG-M18, to identify the linear B-cell epitope on the viral coat protei...

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) non-structural protein 1 (NS1) contributes to virus replication and elicits protective immune responses during infection. JEV NS1-specific antibody responses could be a target in the differential diagnosis of different flavivirus infections. However, the epitopes on JEV NS1 are poorly characterized. The present study describes the full mapping of linear B-cell ...

Characterization of the epitope recognized by the broadly neutralizing anti-HIV Ab 4E10 has, heretofore, focused on a linear sequence from the gp41 pretransmembrane region (PTMR). Attempts to generate neutralizing Abs based on this linear epitope sequence have been unsuccessful. We have characterized the antigenic determinants on recombinant glycosylated full-length Ags, and nonglycosylated and...