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

Increased neutralization and IgG epitope identification after MVA-MERS-S booster vaccination against Middle East respiratory syndrome

Fathi, Anahita; Dahlke, Christine; Krähling, Verena; Kupke, Alexandra; Okba, Nisreen M. A.; Raadsen, Matthijs P.; Heidepriem, Jasmin; Müller, Marcel A.; Paris, Grigori; Lassen, Susan; Klüver, Michael; Volz, Asisa; Koch, Till; Ly, My L.; Friedrich, Monika; Fux, Robert; Tscherne, Alina; Kalodimou, Georgia; Schmiedel, Stefan; Corman, Victor M.; Hesterkamp, Thomas; Drosten, Christian; Loeffler, Felix F.; Haagmans, Bart L.; Sutter, Gerd; Becker, Stephan; Addo, Marylyn M.
Vaccine development is essential for pandemic preparedness. We previously conducted a Phase 1 clinical trial of the vector vaccine candidate MVA-MERS-S against the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), expressing its full spike glycoprotein (MERS-CoV-S), as a homologous two-dose regimen (Days 0 and 28). Here, we evaluate a third vaccination with MVA-MERS-S in a subgroup of trial participants one year after primary immunization. A booster vaccination with MVA-MERS-S is safe and well-tolerated. Both binding and neutralizing anti-MERS-CoV antibody titers increase substantially in all participants and exceed maximum titers observed after primary immunization more than 10-fold. We identify four immunogenic IgG epitopes, located in the receptor-binding domain (RBD, n=1) and the S2 subunit (n=3) of MERS-CoV-S. The level of baseline anti-human coronavirus antibody titers does not impact the generation of anti-MERS-CoV antibody responses. Our data support the rationale of a booster vaccination with MVA-MERS-S and encourage further investigation in larger trials.

Scoping review of the applications of peptide microarrays on the fight against human infections

Vengesai, Arthur; Kasambala, Maritha; Mutandadzi, Hamlet; Mduluza-Jokonya, Tariro L.; Mduluza, Takafira; Naicker, Thajasvarie
PLoS ONE.
Jan 2022
Introduction This scoping review explores the use of peptide microarrays in the fight against infectious diseases. The research domains explored included the use of peptide microarrays in the mapping of linear B-cell and T cell epitopes, antimicrobial peptide discovery, immunosignature characterisation and disease immunodiagnostics. This review also provides a short overview of peptide microarray synthesis. Methods Electronic databases were systematically searched to identify relevant studies. The review was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews and data charting was performed using a predefined form. The results were reported by narrative synthesis in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Results Ninety-five articles from 103 studies were included in the final data charting process. The majority (92. 0%) of the articles were published during 2010–2020 and were mostly from Europe (44.2%) and North America (34.7%). The findings were from the investigation of viral (45.6%), bacterial (32. 0%), parasitic (23.3%) and fungal (2. 0%) infections. Out of the serological studies, IgG was the most reported antibody type followed by IgM. The largest portion of the studies (77.7%) were related to mapping B-cell linear epitopes, 5.8% were on diagnostics, 5.8% reported on immunosignature characterisation and 8.7% reported on viral and bacterial cell binding assays. Two studies reported on T-cell epitope profiling. Conclusion The most important application of peptide microarrays was found to be B-cell epitope mapping or antibody profiling to identify diagnostic and vaccine targets. Immunosignatures identified by random peptide microarrays were found to be applied in the diagnosis of infections and interrogation of vaccine responses. The analysis of the interactions of random peptide microarrays with bacterial and viral cells using binding assays enabled the identification of antimicrobial peptides. Peptide microarray arrays were also used for T-cell linear epitope mapping which may provide more information for the design of peptide-based vaccines and for the development of diagnostic reagents.

Analysis of the Immune Response and Identification of Antibody Epitopes Against the Sigma C Protein of Avian Orthoreovirus Following Immunization with Live or Inactivated Vaccines

Dawe, W. H.; Kapczynski, D. R.; Linnemann, E. G.; Gauthiersloan, V. R.; Sellers, H. S.
Avian Diseases.
Jan 2022

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.

Bayesian Analysis of MicroScale Thermophoresis Data to Quantify Affinity of Protein:Protein Interactions with Human Survivin

Garcia-Bonete, Maria-Jose; Jensen, Maja; Recktenwald, Christian V.; Rocha, Sandra; Stadler, Volker; Bokarewa, Maria; Katona, Gergely
Sci Rep.
Dec 2017
A biomolecular ensemble exhibits different responses to a temperature gradient depending on its diffusion properties. MicroScale Thermophoresis technique exploits this effect and is becoming a popular technique for analyzing interactions of biomolecules in solution. When comparing affinities of related compounds, the reliability of the determined thermodynamic parameters often comes into question. The thermophoresis binding curves can be assessed by Bayesian inference, which provides a probability distribution for the dissociation constant of the interacting partners. By applying Bayesian machine learning principles, binding curves can be autonomously analyzed without manual intervention and without introducing subjective bias by outlier rejection. We demonstrate the Bayesian inference protocol on the known survivin:borealin interaction and on the putative protein-protein interactions between human survivin and two members of the human Shugoshin-like family (hSgol1 and hSgol2). These interactions were identified in a protein microarray binding assay against survivin and confirmed by MicroScale Thermophoresis.

A novel neutralizing human monoclonal antibody broadly abrogates hepatitis C virus infection in vitro and in vivo

Desombere, Isabelle; Mesalam, Ahmed Atef; Urbanowicz, Richard A.; Van Houtte, Freya; Verhoye, Lieven; Keck, Zhen-Yong; Farhoudi, Ali; Vercauteren, Koen; Weening, Karin E.; Baumert, Thomas F.; Patel, Arvind H.; Foung, Steven K.H.; Ball, Jonathan; Leroux-Roels, Geert; Meuleman, Philip
Antiviral Research.
Dec 2017
Infections with hepatitis C virus (HCV) represent a worldwide health burden and a prophylactic vaccine is still not available. Liver transplantation (LT) is often the only option for patients with HCV-induced end-stage liver disease. However, immediately after transplantation, the liver graft becomes infected by circulating virus, resulting in accelerated progression of liver disease. Although the efficacy of HCV treatment using direct-acting antivirals has improved significantly, immune compromised LT-patients and patients with advanced liver disease remain difficult to treat. As an alternative approach, interfering with viral entry could prevent infection of the donor liver. We generated a human monoclonal antibody (mAb), designated 2A5, which targets the HCV envelope. The neutralizing activity of mAb 2A5 was assessed using multiple prototype and patient-derived HCV pseudoparticles (HCVpp), cell culture produced HCV (HCVcc), and a human-liver chimeric mouse model. Neutralization levels observed for mAb 2A5 were generally high and mostly superior to those obtained with AP33, a well-characterized HCV-neutralizing monoclonal antibody. Using humanized mice, complete protection was observed after genotype 1a and 4a HCV challenge, while only partial protection was achieved using gt1b and 6a isolates. Epitope mapping revealed that mAb 2A5 binding is conformation-dependent and identified the E2-region spanning amino acids 434 to 446 (epitope II) as the predominant contact domain. Conclusion: mAb 2A5 shows potent anti-HCV neutralizing activity both in vitro and in vivo and could hence represent a valuable candidate to prevent HCV recurrence in LT-patients. In addition, the detailed identification of the neutralizing epitope can be applied for the design of prophylactic HCV vaccines.

Identification of two conserved B-cell epitopes in the gp90 of reticuloendothelial virus using peptide microarray

Khairy, Wiaam O.A.; Qian, Kun; Shao, Hongxia; Ye, Jianqiang; Qin, Aijian
Veterinary Microbiology.
Nov 2017
Since the gp90 protein of Reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) plays vital roles in virus neutralization, so detailed analysis of REV-gp90 epitopes is important for the development of epitope based marker vaccines and diagnostic tools for REV infections. In this study, two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) namely 6C12 and 09980 were used to map the epitopes in REVgp90 using peptide microarray and ELISA. Peptide microarray revealed that mAbs 6C12 and 09980 recognized 216YHPLA220 and 230DPQTSDILEA239 motifs, respectively. This result was confirmed by ELISA using synthetic peptides. Moreover, homology analysis indicated that mAbs defined epitopes are highly conserved among REV strains used in this study. The mAbs and their epitopes identified in this study may have potential applications in development of diagnostic techniques and epitope-based marker vaccines for control of REV infections.

Efficacy of an Adenoviral Vectored Multivalent Centralized Influenza Vaccine

Lingel, Amy; Bullard, Brianna L.; Weaver, Eric A.
Sci Rep.
Nov 2017
Mice were immunized with Adenovirus expressing the H1-con, H2-con, H3-con and H5-con HA consensus genes in combination (multivalent) and compared to mice immunized with the traditional 2010–2011 FluZone and FluMist seasonal vaccines. Immunized mice were challenged with 10–100 MLD50 of H1N1, H3N1, H3N2 and H5N1 influenza viruses. The traditional vaccines induced robust levels of HA inhibition (HI) titers, but failed to protect against five different heterologous lethal influenza challenges. Conversely, the multivalent consensus vaccine (1 × 1010 virus particles (vp)/mouse) induced protective HI titers of ≥40 against 8 of 10 influenza viruses that represent a wide degree of divergence within the HA subtypes and protected 100% of mice from 8 of 9 lethal heterologous influenza virus challenges. The vaccine protection was dose dependent, in general, and a dose as low as 5 × 107 vp/mouse still provided 100% survival against 7 of 9 lethal heterologous influenza challenges. These data indicate that very low doses of Adenovirus-vectored consensus vaccines induce superior levels of immunity against a wide divergence of influenza subtypes as compared to traditional vaccines. These doses are scalable and translatable to humans and may provide the foundation for complete and long-lasting anti-influenza immunity.

Identification of a Tetanus Toxin Specific Epitope in Single Amino Acid Resolution

Palermo, Andrea; Weber, Laura K.; Rentschler, Simone; Isse, Awale; Sedlmayr, Martyna; Herbster, Karin; List, Volker; Hubbuch, Jürgen; Löffler, Felix F.; Nesterov-Müller, Alexander; Breitling, Frank
Biotechnol. J..
Oct 2017
Vaccinations are among the most potent tools to fight infectious diseases. However, cross-reactions are an ongoing problem and there is an urgent need to fully understand the mechanisms of the immune response. For the development of a methodological workflow, the linear epitopes in the immune response to the tetanus toxin is investigated in sera of 19 vaccinated Europeans applying epitope mapping with peptide arrays. The most prominent epitope, appearing in nine different sera (923IHLVNNESSEVIVHK937), is investigated in a substitution analysis to identify the amino acids that are crucial for the binding of the corresponding antibody species − the antibody fingerprint. The antibody fingerprints of different individuals are compared and found to be strongly conserved (929ExxEVIVxK937), which is astonishing considering the randomness of their development. Additionally, the corresponding antibody species is isolated from one serum with batch chromatography using the amino acid sequence of the identified epitope and the tetanus specificity of the isolated antibody is verified by ELISA. Studying antibody fingerprints with peptide arrays should be transferable to any kind of humoral immune response toward protein antigens. Furthermore, antibody fingerprints have shown to be highly disease-specific and, therefore, can be employed as reliable biomarkers enabling the study of cross-reacting antigens.

Antibody fingerprints in lyme disease deciphered with high density peptide arrays

Weber, Laura K.; Isse, Awale; Rentschler, Simone; Kneusel, Richard E.; Palermo, Andrea; Hubbuch, Jürgen; Nesterov-Mueller, Alexander; Breitling, Frank; Loeffler, Felix F.
Eng. Life Sci..
Oct 2017
Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne infectious disease in Europe and North America. Previous studies discovered the immunogenic role of a surface-exposed lipoprotein (VlsE) of Borreliella burgdorferi. We employed high density peptide arrays to investigate the antibody response to the VlsE protein in VlsE-positive patients by mapping the protein as overlapping peptides and subsequent in-depth epitope substitution analyses. These investigations led to the identification of antibody fingerprints represented by a number of key residues that are indispensable for the binding of the respective antibody. This approach allows us to compare the antibody specificities of different patients to the resolution of single amino acids. Our study revealed that the sera of VlsE-positive patients recognize different epitopes on the protein. Remarkably, in those cases where the same epitope is targeted, the antibody fingerprint is almost identical. Furthermore, we could correlate two fingerprints with human autoantigens and an Epstein-Barr virus epitope; yet, the link to autoimmune disorders seems unlikely and must be investigated in further studies. The other three fingerprints are much more specific for B. burgdorferi. Since antibody fingerprints of longer sequences have proven to be highly disease specific, our findings suggest that the fingerprints could function as diagnostic markers that can reduce false positive test results.

Mapping Putative B-Cell Zika Virus NS1 Epitopes Provides Molecular Basis for Anti-NS1 Antibody Discrimination between Zika and Dengue Viruses

Freire, Marjorie C. L. C.; Pol-Fachin, Laércio; Coêlho, Danilo F.; Viana, Isabelle F. T.; Magalhães, Tereza; Cordeiro, Marli T.; Fischer, Nico; Loeffler, Felix F.; Jaenisch, Thomas; Franca, Rafael F.; Marques, Ernesto T. A.; Lins, Roberto D.
ACS Omega.
Jul 2017
B-cell epitope sequences from Zika virus (ZIKV) NS1 protein have been identified using epitope prediction tools. Mapping these sequences onto the NS1 surface reveals two major conformational epitopes and a single linear one. Despite an overall average sequence identity of ca. 55% between the NS1 from ZIKV and the four dengue virus (DENV) serotypes, epitope sequences were found to be highly conserved. Nevertheless, nonconserved epitope-flanking residues are responsible for a dramatically divergent electrostatic surface potential on the epitope regions of ZIKV and DENV2 serotypes. These findings suggest that strategies for differential diagnostics on the basis of short linear NS1 sequences are likely to fail due to immunological cross-reactions. Overall, results provide the molecular basis of differential discrimination between Zika and DENVs by NS1 monoclonal antibodies.

Identification of Protective B-Cell Epitopes within the Novel Malaria Vaccine Candidate Plasmodium falciparum Schizont Egress Antigen 1

Nixon, Christina E.; Park, Sangshin; Pond-Tor, Sunthorn; Raj, Dipak; Lambert, Lynn E.; Orr-Gonzalez, Sachy; Barnafo, Emma K.; Rausch, Kelly M.; Friedman, Jennifer F.; Fried, Michal; Duffy, Patrick E.; Kurtis, Jonathan D.
Clin. Vaccine Immunol..
Jul 2017
Naturally acquired antibodies to Plasmodium falciparum schizont egress antigen 1 (PfSEA-1A) are associated with protection against severe malaria in children. Vaccination of mice with SEA-1A from Plasmodium berghei (PbSEA-1A) decreases parasitemia and prolongs survival following P. berghei ANKA challenge. To enhance the immunogenicity of PfSEA-1A, we identified five linear B-cell epitopes using peptide microarrays probed with antisera from nonhuman primates vaccinated with recombinant PfSEA-1A (rPfSEA-1A). We evaluated the relationship between epitope-specific antibody levels and protection from parasitemia in a longitudinal treatment-reinfection cohort in western Kenya. Antibodies to three epitopes were associated with 16 to 17% decreased parasitemia over an 18-week high transmission season. We are currently designing immunogens to enhance antibody responses to these three epitopes.

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