Home » Publications » Page 6

Publications

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

Epitopes of Naturally Acquired and Vaccine‐induced Anti‐Ebola Virus Glycoprotein Antibodies in Single Amino Acid Resolution

Heidepriem, Jasmin; Krähling, Verena; Dahlke, Christine; Wolf, Timo; Klein, Florian; Addo, Marylyn M.; Becker, Stephan; Loeffler, Felix F.
Biotechnol. J..
May 2020
The Ebola virus (EBOV) can cause severe infections in humans, leading to a fatal outcome in a high percentage of cases. Neutralizing antibodies against the EBOV surface glycoprotein (GP) can prevent infections, demonstrating a straightforward way for an efficient vaccination strategy. Meanwhile, many different anti-EBOV antibodies have been identified, whereas the exact binding epitopes are often unknown. Here, the analysis of serum samples from an EBOV vaccine trial with the recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus-Zaire ebolavirus (rVSV-ZEBOV) and an Ebola virus disease survivor, using high-density peptide arrays, is presented. In this proof-of-principle study, distinct IgG and IgM antibodies binding to different epitopes of EBOV GP is detected: By mapping the whole GP as overlapping peptide fragments, new epitopes and confirmed epitopes from the literature are found. Furthermore, the highly selective binding epitope of a neutralizing monoclonal anti-EBOV GP antibody could be validated. This shows that peptide arrays can be a valuable tool to study the humoral immune response to vaccines in patients and to support Ebola vaccine development.

Lymphocyte predominant cells detect Moraxella catarrhalis-derived antigens in nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma

Thurner, Lorenz; Hartmann, Sylvia; Fadle, Natalie; Regitz, Evi; Kemele, Maria; Kim, Yoo-Jin; Bohle, Rainer Maria; Nimmesgern, Anna; von Müller, Lutz; Kempf, Volkhard A. J.; Weniger, Marc A.; Neumann, Frank; Schneider, Nadine; Vornanen, Martine; Sundström, Christer; de Leval, Laurence; Engert, Andreas; Eichenauer, Dennis A.; Küppers, Ralf; Preuss, Klaus-Dieter; Hansmann, Martin-Leo; Pfreundschuh, Michael
Nat Commun.
May 2020
Nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL) is a rare lymphoma of B-cell origin with frequent expression of functional B-cell receptors (BCRs). Here we report that expression cloning followed by antigen screening identifies DNA-directed RNA polymerase beta’ (RpoC) from Moraxella catarrhalis as frequent antigen of BCRs of IgD+ LP cells. Patients show predominance of HLA-DRB1*04/07 and the IgVH genes encode extraordinarily long CDR3s. High-titer, light-chain-restricted anti-RpoC IgG1/κ-type serum-antibodies are additionally found in these patients. RpoC and MID/hag, a superantigen co-expressed by Moraxella catarrhalis that is known to activate IgD+ B cells by binding to the Fc domain of IgD, have additive activation effects on the BCR, the NF-κB pathway and the proliferation of IgD+ DEV cells expressing RpoC-specific BCRs. This suggests an additive antigenic and superantigenic stimulation of B cells with RpoC-specific IgD+ BCRs under conditions of a permissive MHC-II haplotype as a model of NLPHL lymphomagenesis, implying future treatment strategies.

Inhibiting cellular uptake of mutant huntingtin using a monoclonal antibody: Implications for the treatment of Huntington’s disease

Bartl, Stefan; Oueslati, Abid; Southwell, Amber L.; Siddu, Alberto; Parth, Michela; David, Linda Suzanne; Maxan, Alexander; Salhat, Nina; Burkert, Markus; Mairhofer, Andreas; Pankevych, Halyna; Balazs, Katja; Staffler, Guenther; Hayden, Michael R.; Cicchetti, Francesca; Smrzka, Oskar W.
Neurobiology of Disease.
May 2020
Huntington’s disease (HD) is caused by a highly polymorphic CAG trinucleotide expansion in the gene encoding for the huntingtin protein (HTT). The resulting mutant huntingtin protein (mutHTT) is ubiquitously expressed but also exhibits the ability to propagate from cell-to-cell to disseminate pathology; a property which may serve as a new therapeutic focus. Accordingly, we set out to develop a monoclonal antibody (mAB) targeting a particularly exposed region close to the aa586 caspase-6 cleavage site of the HTT protein. This monoclonal antibody, designated C6-17, effectively binds mutHTT and is able to deplete the protein from cell culture supernatants. Using cell-based assays, we demonstrate that extracellular secretion of mutHTT into cell culture media and its subsequent uptake in recipient HeLa cells can be almost entirely blocked by mAB C6-17. Immunohistochemical stainings of post-mortem HD brain tissue confirmed the specificity of mAB C6-17 to human mutHTT aggregates. These findings demonstrate that mAB C6-17 not only successfully engages with its target, mutHTT, but also inhibits cell uptake suggesting that this antibody could interfere with the pathological processes of mutHTT spreading in vivo.

Anti-PfGARP activates programmed cell death of parasites and reduces severe malaria

Raj, Dipak K.; Das Mohapatra, Alok; Jnawali, Anup; Zuromski, Jenna; Jha, Ambrish; Cham-Kpu, Gerald; Sherman, Brett; Rudlaff, Rachel M.; Nixon, Christina E.; Hilton, Nicholas; Oleinikov, Andrew V.; Chesnokov, Olga; Merritt, Jordan; Pond-Tor, Sunthorn; Burns, Lauren; Jolly, Grant; Ben Mamoun, Choukri; Kabyemela, Edward; Muehlenbachs, Atis; Lambert, Lynn; Orr-Gonzalez, Sachy; Gnädig, Nina F.; Fidock, David A.; Park, Sangshin; Dvorin, Jeffrey D.; Pardi, Norbert; Weissman, Drew; Mui, Barbara L.; Tam, Ying K.; Friedman, Jennifer F.; Fried, Michal; Duffy, Patrick E.; Kurtis, Jonathan D.
Nature.
Apr 2020
Malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum remains the leading single-agent cause of mortality in children1, yet the promise of an effective vaccine has not been fulfilled. Here, using our previously described differential screening method to analyse the proteome of blood-stage P. falciparum parasites2, we identify P. falciparum glutamic-acid-rich protein (PfGARP) as a parasite antigen that is recognized by antibodies in the plasma of children who are relatively resistant—but not those who are susceptible—to malaria caused by P. falciparum. PfGARP is a parasite antigen of 80 kDa that is expressed on the exofacial surface of erythrocytes infected by early-to-late-trophozoite-stage parasites. We demonstrate that antibodies against PfGARP kill trophozoite-infected erythrocytes in culture by inducing programmed cell death in the parasites, and that vaccinating non-human primates with PfGARP partially protects against a challenge with P. falciparum. Furthermore, our longitudinal cohort studies showed that, compared to individuals who had naturally occurring anti-PfGARP antibodies, Tanzanian children without anti-PfGARP antibodies had a 2.5-fold-higher risk of severe malaria and Kenyan adolescents and adults without these antibodies had a twofold-higher parasite density. By killing trophozoite-infected erythrocytes, PfGARP could synergize with other vaccines that target parasite invasion of hepatocytes or the invasion of and egress from erythrocytes.

On‐Chip Neo‐Glycopeptide Synthesis for Multivalent Glycan Presentation

Mende, Marco; Tsouka, Alexandra; Heidepriem, Jasmin; Paris, Grigori; Mattes, Daniela S.; Eickelmann, Stephan; Bordoni, Vittorio; Wawrzinek, Robert; Fuchsberger, Felix F.; Seeberger, Peter H.; Rademacher, Christoph; Delbianco, Martina; Mallagaray, Alvaro; Loeffler, Felix F
Chem. Eur. J..
Apr 2020
Single glycan–protein interactions are often weak, such that glycan binding partners commonly utilize multiple, spatially defined binding sites to enhance binding avidity and specificity. Current array technologies usually neglect defined multivalent display. Laser-based array synthesis technology allows for flexible and rapid on-surface synthesis of different peptides. By combining this technique with click chemistry, neo-glycopeptides were produced directly on a functionalized glass slide in the microarray format. Density and spatial distribution of carbohydrates can be tuned, resulting in well-defined glycan structures for multivalent display. The two lectins concanavalin A and langerin were probed with different glycans on multivalent scaffolds, revealing strong spacing-, density-, and ligand-dependent binding. In addition, we could also measure the surface dissociation constant. This approach allows for a rapid generation, screening, and optimization of a multitude of multivalent scaffolds for glycan binding.

A Protein Epitope Targeted by the Antibody Response to Kawasaki Disease

Rowley, Anne H; Baker, Susan C; Arrollo, David; Gruen, Leah J; Bodnar, Tetyana; Innocentini, Nancy; Hackbart, Matthew; Cruz-Pulido, Yazmin E; Wylie, Kristine M; Kim, Kwang-Youn A; Shulman, Stanford T
Background Kawasaki disease (KD) is the leading cause of childhood acquired heart disease in developed nations and can result in coronary artery aneurysms and death. Clinical and epidemiologic features implicate an infectious cause but specific antigenic targets of the disease are unknown. Peripheral blood plasmablasts are normally highly clonally diverse but the antibodies they encode are approximately 70% antigen-specific 1–2 weeks after infection. Methods We isolated single peripheral blood plasmablasts from children with KD 1–3 weeks after onset and prepared 60 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). We used the mAbs to identify their target antigens and assessed serologic response among KD patients and controls to specific antigen. Results Thirty-two mAbs from 9 of 11 patients recognize antigen within intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in ciliated bronchial epithelial cells of fatal cases. Five of these mAbs, from 3 patients with coronary aneurysms, recognize a specific peptide, which blocks binding to inclusion bodies. Sera from 5/8 KD patients day ≥ 8 after illness onset, compared with 0/17 infant controls (P < .01), recognized the KD peptide antigen. Conclusions These results identify a protein epitope targeted by the antibody response to KD and provide a means to elucidate the pathogenesis of this important worldwide pediatric problem.

Pre-clinical characterisation of E2814, a high-affinity antibody targeting the microtubule-binding repeat domain of tau for passive immunotherapy in Alzheimer’s disease

Roberts, Malcolm; Sevastou, Ioanna; Imaizumi, Yoichi; Mistry, Kavita; Talma, Sonia; Dey, Madhurima; Gartlon, Jane; Ochiai, Hiroshi; Zhou, Zhi; Akasofu, Shigeru; Tokuhara, Naoki; Ogo, Makoto; Aoyama, Muneo; Aoyagi, Hirofumi; Strand, Kate; Sajedi, Ezat; Agarwala, Kishan Lal; Spidel, Jared; Albone, Earl; Horie, Kanta; Staddon, James M.; de Silva, Rohan
Acta Neuropathologica Communications.
Feb 2020
Tau deposition in the brain is a pathological hallmark of many neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). During the course of these tauopathies, tau spreads throughout the brain via synaptically-connected pathways. Such propagation of pathology is thought to be mediated by tau species (“seeds”) containing the microtubule binding region (MTBR) composed of either three repeat (3R) or four repeat (4R) isoforms. The tau MTBR also forms the core of the neuropathological filaments identified in AD brain and other tauopathies. Multiple approaches are being taken to limit tau pathology, including immunotherapy with anti-tau antibodies. Given its key structural role within fibrils, specifically targetting the MTBR with a therapeutic antibody to inhibit tau seeding and aggregation may be a promising strategy to provide disease-modifying treatment for AD and other tauopathies. Therefore, a monoclonal antibody generating campaign was initiated with focus on the MTBR. Herein we describe the pre-clinical generation and characterisation of E2814, a humanised, high affinity, IgG1 antibody recognising the tau MTBR. E2814 and its murine precursor, 7G6, as revealed by epitope mapping, are antibodies bi-epitopic for 4R and mono-epitopic for 3R tau isoforms because they bind to sequence motif HVPGG. Functionally, both antibodies inhibited tau aggregation in vitro. They also immunodepleted a variety of MTBR-containing tau protein species. In an in vivo model of tau seeding and transmission, attenuation of deposition of sarkosyl-insoluble tau in brain could also be observed in response to antibody treatment. In AD brain, E2814 bound different types of tau filaments as shown by immunogold labelling and recognised pathological tau structures by immunohistochemical staining. Tau fragments containing HVPGG epitopes were also found to be elevated in AD brain compared to PSP or control. Taken together, the data reported here have led to E2814 being proposed for clinical development.

The Myc tag monoclonal antibody 9E10 displays highly variable epitope recognition dependent on neighboring sequence context

Schüchner, Stefan; Behm, Christian; Mudrak, Ingrid; Ogris, Egon
Sci. Signal..
Jan 2020
Epitope tags are short, linear antibody recognition sequences that enable detection of tagged fusion proteins by antibodies. Epitope tag position and neighboring sequences potentially affect its recognition by antibodies, and such context-dependent differences in tag binding may have a wide-ranging effect on data interpretation. We tested by Western blotting six antibodies that recognize the c-Myc epitope tag, including monoclonal antibodies 9E10, 4A6, 9B11, and 71D10 and polyclonal antibodies 9106 and A-14. All displayed context-dependent differences in their ability to detect N- or C-terminal Myc-tagged proteins. In particular, clone 9E10, the most cited Myc-tag antibody, displayed high context-dependent detection variability, whereas others, notably 4A6 and 9B11, showed much less context sensitivity in their detection of Myc-tagged proteins. The very high context sensitivity of 9E10 was further substantiated by peptide microarray analyses. We conclude that recently developed, purpose-made monoclonal antibodies specific for Myc have much more uniform reactivity in diverse assays and are much less context sensitive than is the legacy antibody 9E10.

Serum levels of sclerostin reflect altered bone microarchitecture in patients with hepatic cirrhosis

Wakolbinger, Robert; Muschitz, Christian; Wallwitz, Jacqueline; Bodlaj, Gerd; Feichtinger, Xaver; Schanda, Jakob E.; Resch, Heinrich; Baierl, Andreas; Pietschmann, Peter
Wien Klin Wochenschr.
Jan 2020
Background: Patients with hepatic cirrhosis are at increased risk of bone loss. Recent work on areal bone mineral density has reported contradictory findings. As the assessment of bone microarchitecture is complex, a search was made for correlations with new serum markers of bone turnover. Current data on serum sclerostin levels in patients with increased fracture risk are divergent and to date only one study has examined patients with hepatic cirrhosis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate serum sclerostin levels and to test for correlations with microarchitecture. Methods: This study was performed in 32 patients with recently diagnosed hepatic cirrhosis and 32 controls. The parameters of bone microarchitecture were assessed by high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography. Sclerostin was detected via a new ELISA that detects the active receptor interaction site at loop 2 of the sclerostin core region. Results: Sclerostin levels were slightly, but not significantly lower in the patient group, compared to controls. In contrast, patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis had significantly lower levels than the controls. A significant correlation with areal bone mineral density (BMD) and trabecular microarchitecture was observed in the patient group. However, there was hardly any correlation between sclerostin and bone microarchitecture in the controls. Conclusion: In hepatic cirrhosis, sclerostin is related to altered bone microarchitecture and lower areal BMD. In alcoholic liver disease, low sclerostin concentrations were seen.

Immunity to Influenza is dependent on MHC II polymorphism: study with 2 HLA transgenic strains

Luckey, David; Weaver, Eric A.; Osborne, Douglas G.; Billadeau, Daniel D.; Taneja, Veena
Sci Rep.
Dec 2019
Major histocompatibility complex II (MHC II) molecules are involved in antigen presentation and the development of a functional adaptive immune response. Evolutionary selection for MHC molecules that effectively clear infectious agents provides an advantage to humans. However, certain class II molecules are associated with autoimmune diseases. In this study we infected autoimmune-susceptible DRB1*0401.AEo and non-susceptible *0402.AEo mice with H1N1 influenza and determined clearance and protective immunity to H3N2 virus. *0401 mice generated a robust TLR-triggered immune response and cleared H1N1 influenza virus infection. After vaccination and challenge with H1N1, *0401 mice, when challenged with H3N2, generated cross-protective immunity to heterosubtypic H3N2 influenza strain whereas *0402 mice cleared the H1N1 infection but did not generate cross-protective immunity against the H3N2 influenza strain. The intracellular trafficking route of MHCII revealed that *0401 molecules traffic through the late endosome/lysosomes while *0402 molecules traffic into early endosomes. This suggested that trafficking of MHCII could affect the functional output of the innate immune response and clearance of viral infections. Also, DRB1*0401 mice live longer than HLA-DRB1*0402 mice. The study provides a potential hypothesis for evolutionary selection of *0401 molecule, even though it is associated with autoreactivity, which may be dependent on the availability of peptide repertoire of self-antigens.

Analysis of humoral immune responses in chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infected patients and individuals vaccinated with a candidate CHIKV vaccine

Henss, Lisa; Yue, Constanze; von Rhein, Christine; Tschismarov, Roland; Lewis-Ximenez, Lia Laura; Dölle, Albert; Baylis, Sally A; Schnierle, Barbara S
Abstract Background Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-transmitted alphavirus that causes severe flu like symptoms. The acute symptoms disappear after one week, but chronic arthralgia can persist for years. Here, humoral immune responses in CHIKV-infected patients and vaccinees were analyzed. Methods Alphavirus neutralization activity was analyzed with pseudotyped lentiviral vectors and antibody epitope mapping was performed with a peptide array. Results Greatest CHIKV neutralization activity was observed 60-92 days after onset of symptoms. The amount of CHIKV-specific antibodies, their binding avidity and cross-reactivity with other alphaviruses increased over time. CHIKV and o’nyong-nyong virus (ONNV) were both neutralized to a similar extent. Linear antibody binding epitopes were mainly found in E2 domain B and the acid-sensitive regions (ASRs). In addition, serum samples from healthy volunteers vaccinated with a measles-vectored chikungunya vaccine candidate, MV-CHIK, were analyzed. Neutralization activity in the samples from the vaccine cohort was 2–6-fold lower than in samples from CHIKV-infected patients. In contrast to infection, vaccination only induced cross-neutralization with ONNV and the E2 ASR1 was the major antibody target. Conclusion These data could assist vaccine design and enable the identification of correlates of protection necessary for vaccine efficacy.

Peptides of neuron specific enolase as potential ASD biomarkers: From discovery to epitope mapping

Ramirez-Celis, Alexandra; Edmiston, Elizabeth; Schauer, Joseph; Vu, Tam; Van de Water, Judy
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.
Dec 2019
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an important health issue and affects 1 in 59 children in the US. Prior studies determined that maternal autoantibody related (MAR) autism is thought to be associated with ~23% of ASD cases. We previously identified seven MAR-specific autoantigens including CRMP1, CRMP2, GDA, LDHA, LDHB, STIP1, and YBX1. We subsequently described the epitope peptide sequences recognized by maternal autoantibodies for each of the seven ASD-specific autoantigens. The aim of the current study was to expand upon our previous work and identify additional antigens recognized by the ASD-specific maternal autoantibodies, as well as to map the unique ASD-specific epitopes using microarray technology. Fetal Rhesus macaque brain tissues were separated by molecular weight and a fraction containing bands between 37 and 45 kDa was analyzed using 2-D gel electrophoresis, followed by peptide mass mapping using MALDI-TOF MS and TOF/TOF tandem MS/MS. Using this methodology, Neuron specific enolase (NSE) was identified as a target autoantigen and selected for epitope mapping. The full NSE sequence was translated into 15-mer peptides with an overlap of 14 amino acids onto microarray slides and probed with maternal plasma from mothers with an ASD child and from mothers with a Typically Developing child (TD) (ASD = 27 and TD = 21). The resulting data were analyzed by T-test. We found 16 ASD-specific NSE-peptide sequences for which four sequences were statistically significant (p < 0.05) using both the t-test and SAM t-test: DVAASEFYRDGKYDL (p = 0.047; SAM score 1.49), IEDPFDQDDWAAWSK (p = 0.049; SAM score 1.49), ERLAKYNQLMRIEEE (p = 0.045; SAM score 1.57), and RLAKYNQLMRIEEEL (p = 0.017; SAM score 1.82). We further identified 5 sequences that were recognized by both ASD and TD antibodies suggesting a large immunodominant epitope (DYPVVSIEDPFDQDDWAAW). While maternal autoantibodies against the NSE protein are present both in mothers with ASD and mothers of TD children, there are several ASD-specific epitopes that can potentially be used as MAR ASD biomarkers. Further, studies including analysis of NSE as a target protein in combination with the previously identified MAR ASD autoantigens are currently underway.

Quote form