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Discover how PEPperPRINT Peptide Microarray products have been used in different fields of research.

Mapping and Validation of Peptides Differentially Recognized by Antibodies from the Serum of Yellow Fever Virus-Infected or 17DD-Vaccinated Patients

Oliveira, Eneida Santos; Tavares, Naiara Clemente; Colombarolli, Stella Garcia; Batista, Izabella Cristina Andrade; Nascimento, Camila Sales; Felgner, Philip Louis; de Assis, Rafael Ramiro; Calzavara-Silva, Carlos Eduardo
Viruses.
Jul 2022
Yellow Fever disease is caused by the Yellow Fever virus (YFV), an arbovirus from the Flaviviridae family. The re-emergence of Yellow Fever (YF) was facilitated by the increasing urbanization of sylvatic areas, the wide distribution of the mosquito vector, and the low percentage of people immunized in the Americas, which caused severe outbreaks in recent years, with a high mortality rate. Therefore, serological approaches capable of discerning antibodies generated from the wild-type (YFV-WT) strain between the vaccinal strain (YFV-17DD) could facilitate vaccine coverage surveillance, enabling the development of strategies to avoid new outbreaks. In this study, peptides were designed and subjected to microarray procedures with sera collected from individuals infected by WT-YFV and 17DD–YFV of YFV during the Brazilian outbreak of YFV in 2017/2018. From 222 screened peptides, around ten could potentially integrate serological approaches aiming to differentiate vaccinated individuals from naturally infected individuals. Among those peptides, one was synthesized and validated through ELISA.

Rise of the SARS-CoV-2 Variants: can proteomics be the silver bullet?

Acharjee, Arup; Stephen Kingsly, Joshua; Kamat, Madhura; Kurlawala, Vishakha; Chakraborty, Aparajita; Vyas, Priyanka; Vaishnav, Radhika; Srivastava, Sanjeeva
Expert Rev Proteomics.
Jun 2022
10.1080/14789450.2022.2085564
INTRODUCTION: The challenges posed by emergent strains of SARS-CoV-2 need to be tackled by contemporary scientific approaches, with proteomics playing a significant role. AREAS COVERED: In this review, we provide a brief synthesis of the impact of proteomics technologies in elucidating disease pathogenesis and classifiers for the prognosis of COVID-19 and propose proteomics methodologies that could play a crucial role in understanding emerging variants and their altered disease pathology. From aiding the design of novel drug candidates to facilitating the identification of T cell vaccine targets, we have discussed the impact of proteomics methods in COVID-19 research. Techniques varied as mass spectrometry, single-cell proteomics, multiplexed ELISA arrays, high-density proteome arrays, surface plasmon resonance, immunopeptidomics, and in silico docking studies that have helped augment the fight against existing diseases were useful in preparing us to tackle SARS-CoV-2 variants. We also propose an action plan for a pipeline to combat emerging pandemics using proteomics technology by adopting uniform standard operating procedures and unified data analysis paradigms. EXPERT OPINION: The knowledge about the use of diverse proteomics approaches for COVID-19 investigation will provide a framework for future basic research, better infectious disease prevention strategies, improved diagnostics, and targeted therapeutics.

Development of broadly neutralizing antibodies targeting the cytomegalovirus subdominant antigen gH

Parsons, Andrea J.; Ophir, Sabrina I.; Duty, J. Andrew; Kraus, Thomas A.; Stein, Kathryn R.; Moran, Thomas M.; Tortorella, Domenico
Commun Biol.
Apr 2022
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a β-herpesvirus that increases morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised individuals including transplant recipients and newborns. New anti-HCMV therapies are an urgent medical need for diverse patient populations. HCMV infection of a broad range of host tissues is dependent on the gH/gL/gO trimer and gH/gL/UL28/UL130/UL131A pentamer complexes on the viral envelope. We sought to develop safe and effective therapeutics against HCMV by generating broadly-neutralizing, human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from VelocImmune® mice immunized with gH/gL cDNA. Following high-throughput binding and neutralization screening assays, 11 neutralizing antibodies were identified with unique CDR3 regions and a high-affinity (KD 1.4-65 nM) to the pentamer complex. The antibodies bound to distinct regions within Domains 1 and 2 of gH and effectively neutralized diverse clinical strains in physiologically relevant cell types including epithelial cells, trophoblasts, and monocytes. Importantly, combined adminstration of mAbs with ganciclovir, an FDA approved antiviral, greatly limited virus dissemination. Our work identifies several anti-gH/gL mAbs and sheds light on gH neutralizing epitopes that can guide future vaccine strategies.

Construction of a Large Size Human Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain Variable (VH) Domain Library, Isolation and Characterization of Novel Human Antibody VH Domains Targeting PD-L1 and CD22

Sun, Zehua; Li, Wei; Mellors, John W.; Orentas, Rimas; Dimitrov, Dimiter S.
Front Immunol.
Apr 2022
10.3389/fimmu.2022.869825
Phage display is a well-established technology for in vitro selection of monoclonal antibodies (mAb), and more than 12 antibodies isolated from phage displayed libraries of different formats have been approved for therapy. We have constructed a large size (10^11) human antibody VH domain library based on thermo-stable, aggregation-resistant scaffolds. This diversity was obtained by grafting naturally occurring CDR2s and CDR3s from healthy donors with optimized primers into the VH library. This phage-displayed library was used for bio-panning against various antigens. So far, panels of binders have been isolated against different viral and tumor targets, including the SARS-CoV-2 RBD, HIV-1 ENV protein, mesothelin and FLT3. In the present study, we discuss domain library construction, characterize novel VH binders against human CD22 and PD-L1, and define our design process for antibody domain drug conjugation (DDC) as tumoricidal reagents. Our study provides examples for the potential applications of antibody domains derived from library screens in therapeutics and provides key information for large size human antibody domain library construction.

Inhibition of lung microbiota-derived proapoptotic peptides ameliorates acute exacerbation of pulmonary fibrosis

D’Alessandro-Gabazza, Corina N.; Yasuma, Taro; Kobayashi, Tetsu; Toda, Masaaki; Abdel-Hamid, Ahmed M.; Fujimoto, Hajime; Hataji, Osamu; Nakahara, Hiroki; Takeshita, Atsuro; Nishihama, Kota; Okano, Tomohito; Saiki, Haruko; Okano, Yuko; Tomaru, Atsushi; Fridman D’Alessandro, Valeria; Shiraishi, Miyako; Mizoguchi, Akira; Ono, Ryoichi; Ohtsuka, Junpei; Fukumura, Masayuki; Nosaka, Tetsuya; Mi, Xuenan; Shukla, Diwakar; Kataoka, Kensuke; Kondoh, Yasuhiro; Hirose, Masaki; Arai, Toru; Inoue, Yoshikazu; Yano, Yutaka; Mackie, Roderick I.; Cann, Isaac; Gabazza, Esteban C.
Nat Commun.
Mar 2022
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is an incurable disease of unknown etiology. Acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is associated with high mortality. Excessive apoptosis of lung epithelial cells occurs in pulmonary fibrosis acute exacerbation. We recently identified corisin, a proapoptotic peptide that triggers acute exacerbation of pulmonary fibrosis. Here, we provide insights into the mechanism underlying the processing and release of corisin. Furthermore, we demonstrate that an anticorisin monoclonal antibody ameliorates lung fibrosis by significantly inhibiting acute exacerbation in the human transforming growth factorβ1 model and acute lung injury in the bleomycin model. By investigating the impact of the anticorisin monoclonal antibody in a general model of acute lung injury, we further unravel the potential of corisin to impact such diseases. These results underscore the role of corisin in the pathogenesis of acute exacerbation of pulmonary fibrosis and acute lung injury and provide a novel approach to treating this incurable disease.

In vitro evolution of myc-tag antibodies: in-depth specificity and affinity analysis of Myc1-9E10 and Hyper-Myc

Russo, Giulio; Unkauf, Tobias; Meier, Doris; Wenzel, Esther Veronika; Langreder, Nora; Schneider, Kai-Thomas; Wiesner, Rebecca; Bischoff, Ralf; Stadler, Volker; Dübel, Stefan
One of the most widely used epitope tags is the myc-tag, recognized by the anti-c-Myc hybridoma antibody Myc1-9E10. Combining error-prone PCR, DNA shuffling and phage display, we generated an anti-c-Myc antibody variant (Hyper-Myc) with monovalent affinity improved to 18 nM and thermal stability increased by 37%. Quantification of capillary immunoblots and by flow cytometry demonstrated improved antigen detection by Hyper-Myc. Further, three different species variants of this antibody were generated to allow the use of either anti-human, anti-mouse or anti-rabbit Fc secondary antibodies for detection. We characterized the specificity of both antibodies in depth: individual amino acid exchange mapping demonstrated that the recognized epitope was not changed by the in vitro evolution process. A laser printed array of 29,127 different epitopes representing all human linear B-cell epitopes of the Immune Epitope Database allowing to chart unwanted reactivities with mimotopes showed these to be very low for both antibodies and not increased for Hyper-Myc despite its improved affinity. The very low background reactivity of Hyper-Myc was confirmed by staining of myc-tag transgenic zebrafish whole mounts. Hyper-Myc retains the very high specificity of Myc1-9E10 while allowing myc-tag detection at lower concentrations and with either anti-mouse, anti-rabbit or anti human secondary antibodies.

Protein microarrays for COVID-19 research: Biomarker discovery, humoral response, and vaccine targets

Acharjee, Arup; Barpanda, Abhilash; Ren, Jing; Yu, Xiaobo
Of all the technological interventions used to probe the COVID-19 biological sample, microarrays have provided unique information about the biology of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the greatest of detail. Protein microarrays are available in various formats such as protein microarray, antibody microarray, and peptide microarrays. These provide an attractive format to study host response against infection, with its straightforward sample preparation strategy and easy result analysis pipelines. Microarray technology either uses antibodies against hundreds of proteins to study host proteins or scans immunogenic peptides of the pathogen in a microarray panel of the pathogen proteome. It can be used to study the humoral immune response against antigenic proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, host proteomic alterations due to the infection. The SARS-CoV-2 peptide array can be used for the accurate detection of antigenic determinants for vaccine design. This chapter summarizes the different types of protein and peptide microarray and their use in COVID-19 biomarker discovery, disease management, vaccine design, etc., for better management of COVID-19.

Influenza‐associated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura: A report of two cases and a brief review of the literature

Onkarappa Mangala, Yashvin; Sweeney, Joseph D.
Vox Sanguinis.
Nov 2021
Background and Objectives Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is often preceded by a recent history of an acute infection and influenza is the most implicated virus. Materials and Methods We identified two cases of TTP, which were preceded by influenza between 2010 and 2021. In one patient, we epitope mapped the binding specificity of antibodies using an overlapping peptide approach of the stalk protein of Influenza B and the cysteine-rich spacer domain (CRSD) of ADAMTS13. A literature search was performed for reports of influenza-associated TTP over the period 1980–2021. Results Two patients were identified in which TTP was preceded by influenza, one Influenza A and the other Influenza B. Epitope mapping of the latter’s plasma identified target epitopes in both the stalk protein of Influenza B and CRSD of ADAMTS13. The literature review revealed only seven case reports, all but one from Europe or Asia and associated with Influenza A. Severe ADAMTS13 deficiency was demonstrated in only four cases. Conclusion We report the first small case series of influenza-associated TTP. Moreover, it is the first case implicating Influenza B and a mechanism favouring polyclonal B-cell proliferation rather than molecular mimicry as the stimulus to form anti-ADAMTS13 auto-antibodies is suggested.

The Potential Role of Human NME1 in Neuronal Differentiation of Porcine Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Application of NB-hNME1 as a Human NME1 Suppressor

Cho, Jin Hyoung; Ju, Won Seok; Seo, Sang Young; Kim, Bo Hyun; Kim, Ji-Su; Kim, Jong-Geol; Park, Soon Ju; Choo, Young-Kug
Int J Mol Sci.
Nov 2021
This study aimed to investigate the effects of the human macrophage (MP) secretome in cellular xenograft rejection. The role of human nucleoside diphosphate kinase A (hNME1), from the secretome of MPs involved in the neuronal differentiation of miniature pig adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (mp AD-MSCs), was evaluated by proteomic analysis. Herein, we first demonstrate that hNME1 strongly binds to porcine ST8 alpha-N-acetyl-neuraminide alpha-2,8-sialyltransferase 1 (pST8SIA1), which is a ganglioside GD3 synthase. When hNME1 binds with pST8SIA1, it induces degradation of pST8SIA1 in mp AD-MSCs, thereby inhibiting the expression of ganglioside GD3 followed by decreased neuronal differentiation of mp AD-MSCs. Therefore, we produced nanobodies (NBs) named NB-hNME1 that bind to hNME1 specifically, and the inhibitory effect of NB-hNME1 was evaluated for blocking the binding between hNME1 and pST8SIA1. Consequently, NB-hNME1 effectively blocked the binding of hNME1 to pST8SIA1, thereby recovering the expression of ganglioside GD3 and neuronal differentiation of mp AD-MSCs. Our findings suggest that mp AD-MSCs could be a potential candidate for use as an additive, such as an immunosuppressant, in stem cell transplantation.

A high-throughput pipeline for design and selection of peptides targeting the SARS-Cov-2 Spike protein

Wolfe, Monica; Webb, Sean; Chushak, Yaroslav; Krabacher, Rachel; Liu, Yi; Swami, Nathan; Harbaugh, Svetlana; Chávez, Jorge
Sci Rep.
Nov 2021
Rapid design, screening, and characterization of biorecognition elements (BREs) is essential for the development of diagnostic tests and antiviral therapeutics needed to combat the spread of viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To address this need, we developed a high-throughput pipeline combining in silico design of a peptide library specific for SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein and microarray screening to identify binding sequences. Our optimized microarray platform allowed the simultaneous screening of ~ 2.5 k peptides and rapid identification of binding sequences resulting in selection of four peptides with nanomolar affinity to the SARS-CoV-2 S protein. Finally, we demonstrated the successful integration of one of the top peptides into an electrochemical sensor with a clinically relevant limit of detection for S protein in spiked saliva. Our results demonstrate the utility of this novel pipeline for the selection of peptide BREs in response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and the broader application of such a platform in response to future viral threats.

Human Antibody Domains and Fragments Targeting Neutrophil Elastase as Candidate Therapeutics for Cancer and Inflammation-Related Diseases

Chu, Xiaojie; Sun, Zehua; Baek, Du-San; Li, Wei; Mellors, John W.; Shapiro, Steven D.; Dimitrov, Dimiter S.
Int J Mol Sci.
Oct 2021
Neutrophil elastase (NE) is a serine protease released during neutrophil maturation. High levels of NE are related to lung tissue damage and poor prognosis in cancer; thus, NE is a potential target for therapeutic immunotherapy for multiple lung diseases and cancers. Here, we isolate and characterize two high-affinity, specific, and noncompetitive anti-NE antibodies Fab 1C10 and VH 1D1.43 from two large phage-displayed human Fab and VH libraries. After fusion with human IgG1 Fc, both of them (VH-Fc 1D1.43 and IgG1 1C10) inhibit NE enzymatic activity with VH-Fc 1D1.43 showing comparable inhibitory effects to that of the small molecule NE inhibitor SPCK and IgG1 1C10 exhibiting even higher (2.6-fold) activity than SPCK. Their epitopes, as mapped by peptide arrays combined with structural modeling, indicate different mechanisms for blocking NE activity. Both VH-Fc and IgG1 antibodies block NE uptake by cancer cells and fibroblast differentiation. VH-Fc 1D1.43 and IgG1 1C10 are promising for the antibody-based immunotherapy of cancer and inflammatory diseases.

Serum Peptide Immunoglobulin G Autoantibody Response in Patients with Different Central Nervous System Inflammatory Demyelinating Disorders

Lee, Hye Lim; Park, Jin-Woo; Seok, Jin Myoung; Jeon, Mi Young; Kim, Hojin; Lim, Young-Min; Shin, Ha Young; Kang, Sa-Yoon; Kwon, Oh-Hyun; Lee, Sang-Soo; Seok, Hung Youl; Min, Ju-Hong; Lee, Sung-Hyun; Kim, Byung-Jo; Kim, Byoung Joon
Diagnostics.
Jul 2021
Previous efforts to discover new surrogate markers for the central nervous system (CNS) inflammatory demyelinating disorders have shown inconsistent results; moreover, supporting evidence is scarce. The present study investigated the IgG autoantibody responses to various viral and autoantibodies-related peptides proposed to be related to CNS inflammatory demyelinating disorders using the peptide microarray method. We customized a peptide microarray containing more than 2440 immobilized peptides representing human and viral autoantigens. Using this, we tested the sera of patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD seropositive, n = 6; NMOSD seronegative, n = 5), multiple sclerosis (MS, n = 5), and myelin-oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD, n = 6), as well as healthy controls (HC, n = 5) and compared various peptide immunoglobulin G (IgG) responses between the groups. Among the statistically significant peptides based on the pairwise comparisons of IgG responses in each disease group to HC, cytomegalovirus (CMV)-related peptides were most clearly distinguishable among the study groups. In particular, the most significant differences in IgG response were observed for HC vs. MS and HC vs. seronegative NMOSD (p = 0.064). Relatively higher IgG responses to CMV-related peptides were observed in patients with MS and NMOSD based on analysis of the customized peptide microarray.

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