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

Peptide Epitopes of NC16A BP180 in the Diagnostics of Bullous Pemphigoid

Lytton, Simon D.; Wagger, Christine; Meyersburg, Damian; Mussnig, Birgit; Lang, Roland; Maglie, Roberto; Anzengruber, Florian; Antiga, Emiliano; Hall, Russell P.; Bauer, Johann W.
JID Innovations.
Nov 2025

Anti-TRPV2 Autoantibody Linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Maguy, Ange; Tessier, Agnès; Mahendran, Yuvaraj; Denis, Manon; Lauzier, Benjamin; Charpentier, Flavien; Li, Jin
As a leading cause of infant death, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) remains a perplexing diagnosis with no clear underlying biological substrate.1 In the past decade, studies have emerged demonstrating that circulating autoantibodies targeting cardiac antigens can underlie life-threatening arrhythmias.2 Because autoimmunity as a cause of SIDS has not yet been explored, we screened infant serum samples for the presence of autoantibodies targeting cardiac ion channels and examined how immunoglobulins may play a driving role in the pathogenesis of SIDS. Comparing cases of SIDS and accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed with healthy controls, we established the autoantibody profile of 47 serum samples using peptide microarray (Figure [A]), as previously described.2 Strikingly, only 1 single autoantibody targeting the transient receptor potential vanilloid 2 (TRPV2) channel (PTGPNATESVQPMEGQEDEG) was significantly associated with SIDS (P=0.028 versus controls, the default correction in limma). Collectively, we detected anti-TRPV2 autoantibodies in 84.6% of infants with SIDS compared with 50.0% in cases of accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed and 25.0% in controls.

Mapping autoantibody targets of full-length C-reactive protein in systemic lupus erythematosus: importance for neutrophil function and classical complement activation

Karlsson, Jesper; Wirestam, Lina; Duàn, Hanna; Ahmad, Suhana; Appelgren, Daniel; Enocsson, Helena; Wetterö, Jonas; Sjöwall, Christopher
Front. Immunol..
May 2025
C-reactive protein (CRP) is an important pattern recognition molecule of innate immunity. Autoantibodies targeting CRP are common in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and the levels correlate with disease activity. The purpose of this study was to investigate binding sites of IgG autoantibodies on the full linear sequence of CRP and identify potential associations with clinical variables in well-characterized SLE patients; a secondary aim was to investigate the effect of an epitope-based synthesized peptide motif on neutrophil functions. The levels of anti-CRP and SLE-associated antibodies were assessed, and a microarray-based linear epitope mapping was performed to detect binding sites on the full CRP monomer. We observed that anti-CRP antibodies bind to a variety of linear epitopes with a higher prevalence in SLE compared to healthy blood donors. Eleven unique epitopes were identified, of which five were found exclusively in SLE. Furthermore, we show that patients with anticardiolipin IgG and/or anti-β2GPI IgG antibodies have a higher number of positive CRP epitopes, and some CRP autoantibody-specificities associate with antiphospholipid antibodies, disease activity, and classical complement activation. In addition, one identified motif was selected, synthesized, and used for studying neutrophil function. This peptide showed modulatory capacity on neutrophil oxidative burst and chemotaxis, but not on neutrophil extracellular trap formation. Our results implicate a wide variation of anti-CRP autoantibody binding motifs of the linear structure of CRP in SLE patients. Some epitopes have the potential to modify innate host responses of relevance to the pathogenesis of SLE.

Paediatric autoimmune uveitis is associated with intraocular antibodies against Epstein–Barr virus Nuclear Antigen 1 (EBNA-1)

Hendrikse, Jytte; Bont, Louis J.; Schellekens, Peter A.W.J.F.; De Groot-Mijnes, Jolanda D.F.; De Boer, Joke H.; Kuiper, Jonas J.W.
eBioMedicine.
Mar 2025
**Background** Non-infectious uveitis is an immune-mediated disease characterized by vision-threatening inflammation within the eye. Increasing evidence indicates that microbial agents promote non-infectious uveitis, but the natural history of immune responses to pathogens in patients remains unexplored. We determined intraocular antibodies against pathogens in paediatric uveitis. **Methods** We used peptide microarrays containing 3760 linear B-cell epitopes from 196 human pathogens to profile IgG levels in eye fluid biopsies and paired serum samples from 18 Dutch paediatric patients and 6 age-matched controls. We compared intensities of single epitopes and clusters based on overlapping amino acid sequence of peptides. Next-generation sequencing data was obtained to determine the HLA-DRB1∗15:01 genotype. **Findings** Intraocular antibody profiles largely matched serum profiles and were characterized by high IgG against the conserved PALTAVET-motif of enterovirus family members, as well as broad epitope reactivity against Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). The aqueous humour of patients showed elevated levels of antibodies against peptides containing the RRPFFHPV-motif of Epstein–Barr Virus Nuclear Antigen 1 [EBNA-1]. Antibody levels against the RRPFFHPV-motif of EBNA1 were significantly higher in individuals that carry the HLA-DRB1∗15:01 risk allele of paediatric uveitis. **Interpretation** Intraocular antibodies against an immunogenic epitope of EBV showed an association with paediatric uveitis, particularly HLA-DRB1∗15:01 positive uveitis, indicating a potential link between EBV-specific immune responses and autoimmune uveitis. **Funding** Funding for this research was received from Fischer Stichting (UZ2022-3), ODAS (2021-02), LSBS and ANVVB.

The antibody repertoire of autoimmune sensory neuronopathies targets pathways of the innate and adaptative immune system. An autoantigenomic approach.

Moritz, Christian P.; Tholance, Yannick; Boutahar, Nadia; Borowczyk, Coralie; Berger, Anne-Emmanuelle; Paul, Stéphane; Antoine, Jean-Christophe; Camdessanché, Jean-Philippe
Journal of Translational Autoimmunity.
Jan 2025
Sensory neuronopathies (SNN) encompasses diverse etiologies, with autoimmunity playing a major role through both cellular and humoral responses. To investigate the humoral autoantibody repertoire in autoimmune SNN, we conducted a retrospective cohort study using large Human Proteome-wide protein microarrays (HuProt 3.1, HuProt 4.0, ProtoArrays). We specifically focused on immune system pathways within the repertoire of targeted antigens (the autoantigenome). We included 131 participants: 44 patients with non-paraneoplastic autoimmune SNN (12 with anti-FGFR3 and/or anti-AGO antibodies), 8 with paraneoplastic SNN and 79 controls. Results were validated in an independent cohort of 16 SNN patients. Overrepresentation of immune-system-related proteins was assessed via the Reactome database, and serum levels of IFN-γ and IL-6 were measured using the Bio-Plex Pro™ Reagent Kit. Autoimmune SNN sera interact with more immune system proteins than healthy controls (ProtoArrays: 271/863 vs. 14/863, HuProt: 112/1694 vs. 39/1694, both p<0.0001). Overrepresentation was observed in all immune sub-pathways, including innate, adaptive immune responses, and cytokine signaling. Anti-FGFR3-positive SNN patients were more reactive with immune system proteins than negative ones. The independent SNN cohort validated the finding of overrepresentatively targeted immune system pathways. Validation with dot blot and ELISA confirmed reactivity to TRIM21 and IL-6, and identified anti-IFN-γ-positive SNN patients. IFN-γ levels correlated weakly with levels of anti-IFN-γ antibodies (Pearson’s r = 0.22, p=0.03). We conclude that the antibody repertoire of autoimmune SNN targets pathways of the innate and adaptative immune system, potentially reflecting key disease-related immune pathways and highlighting the systemic role of immune dysregulation in SNN.

High-throughput identification of immunoreactive peptides and corresponding proteins from Anaplasma platys and Ehrlichia canis using peptide microarray chips

Llanes, Alejandro; Madesh, Swetha; Brangulis, Kalvis; Rajeev, Sreekumari
Front Cell Infect Microbiol.
Jan 2025
10.3389/fcimb.2025.1671309
INTRODUCTION: Anaplasma platys and Ehrlichia canis are rickettsial pathogens infecting dogs, with a worldwide distribution. Both species are obligate intracellular pathogens and colonize bone marrow-derived cells, with coinfections frequently reported in dogs. Although E. canis immunodominant proteins have been thoroughly characterized, very few high-throughput studies have been conducted to identify immunogenic proteins from Anaplasma spp. In this study, we used a methodology based on peptide microarray chips to identify immunoreactive peptides, either shared or species-specific, in the complete theoretical proteomes of both pathogens. METHODS: B-cell epitopes were predicted in the corresponding proteins from both species and ranked for synthesis on the peptide microarrays. These microarrays were screened with serum samples from antibody-positive dogs, as well as negative control sera from unexposed dogs. Additionally, we assessed the feasibility of integrating evidence gathered at the level of individual peptides to identify potentially immunogenic proteins contributing to the patterns of immunoreactivity observed on microarrays. RESULTS: Screening of peptide microarrays resulted in complex antibody reactivity patterns against thousands of peptides. After discarding peptides with cross-reactivity to negative control sera, we identified over 1,200 immunoreactive peptides, including ~80 peptides shared between the two species with almost identical sequences. Despite screening linear peptides, we were able to identify proteins previously reported as immunodominant in E. canis, some of which contain predominantly conformational epitopes. DISCUSSION: Our results suggest that a high-throughput strategy based on peptide microarrays is an effective approach for the rapid identification of immunoreactive peptides and the underlying immunogenic proteins. This study provides a foundation for developing novel diagnostic tools and vaccine candidates against A. platys and E. canis, including potential combined or multivalent formulations targeting both pathogens.

Anti-ADAMTS13 IgG autoantibodies present in healthy individuals share linear epitopes with those in patients with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

Grillberger, R.; Casina, V. C.; Turecek, P. L.; Zheng, X. L.; Rottensteiner, H.; Scheiflinger, F.
Haematologica.
Apr 2014

Potent Adjuvanticity of a Pure TLR7-Agonistic Imidazoquinoline Dendrimer

Shukla, Nikunj M.; Salunke, Deepak B.; Balakrishna, Rajalakshmi; Mutz, Cole A.; Malladi, Subbalakshmi S.; David, Sunil A.
PLoS ONE.
Aug 2012
Engagement of toll-like receptors (TLRs) serve to link innate immune responses with adaptive immunity and can be exploited as powerful vaccine adjuvants for eliciting both primary and anamnestic immune responses. TLR7 agonists are highly immunostimulatory without inducing dominant proinflammatory cytokine responses. We synthesized a dendrimeric molecule bearing six units of a potent TLR7/TLR8 dual-agonistic imidazoquinoline to explore if multimerization of TLR7/8 would result in altered activity profiles. A complete loss of TLR8-stimulatory activity with selective retention of the TLR7-agonistic activity was observed in the dendrimer. This was reflected by a complete absence of TLR8-driven proinflammatory cytokine and interferon (IFN)-γ induction in human PBMCs, with preservation of TLR7-driven IFN-α induction. The dendrimer was found to be superior to the imidazoquinoline monomer in inducing high titers of high-affinity antibodies to bovine α-lactalbumin. Additionally, epitope mapping experiments showed that the dendrimer induced immunoreacti

Sensing Immune Responses with Customized Peptide Microarrays

Schirwitz, Christopher; Loeffler, Felix F.; Felgenhauer, Thomas; Stadler, Volker; Breitling, Frank; Bischoff, F. Ralf
Biointerphases.
Aug 2012
The intent to solve biological and biomedical questions in high-throughput led to an immense interest in microarray technologies. Nowadays, DNA microarrays are routinely used to screen for oligonucleotide interactions within a large variety of potential interaction partners. To study interactions on the protein level with the same efficiency, protein and peptide microarrays offer similar advantages, but their production is more demanding. A new technology to produce peptide microarrays with a laser printer provides access to affordable and highly complex peptide microarrays. Such a peptide microarray can contain up to 775 peptide spots per cm², whereby the position of each peptide spot and, thus, the amino acid sequence of the corresponding peptide, is exactly known. Compared to other techniques, such as the SPOT synthesis, more features per cm² at lower costs can be synthesized which paves the way for laser printed peptide microarrays to take on roles as efficient and affordable biomedical sensors. Here, we describe the laser printer-based synthesis of peptide microarrays and focus on an application involving the blood sera of tetanus immunized individuals, indicating the potential of peptide arrays to sense immune responses.

Physical Characterization of the “Immunosignaturing Effect”

Stafford, Phillip; Halperin, Rebecca; Legutki, Joseph Bart; Magee, Dewey Mitchell; Galgiani, John; Johnston, Stephen Albert
Mol Cell Proteomics.
Apr 2012
Identifying new, effective biomarkers for diseases is proving to be a challenging problem. We have proposed that antibodies may offer a solution to this problem. The physical features and abundance of antibodies make them ideal biomarkers. Additionally, antibodies are often elicited early in the ontogeny of different chronic and infectious diseases. We previously reported that antibodies from patients with infectious disease and separately those with Alzheimer’s disease display a characteristic and reproducible immunosignature on a microarray of 10,000 random sequence peptides. Here we investigate the physical and chemical parameters underlying how immunosignaturing works. We first show that a variety of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies raised against different classes of antigens produce distinct profiles on this microarray and the relative affinities are determined. A proposal for how antibodies bind the random sequences is tested. Sera from vaccinated mice and people suffering from a fugal infection are individually assayed to determine the complexity of signals that can be distinguished. Based on these results, we propose that this simple, general and inexpensive system could be optimized to generate a new class of antibody biomarkers for a wide variety of diseases.

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