title: Identification of a promiscuous T-cell epitope in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Mce proteins.
abstract: The characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens inducing CD4(+) T-cell responses could critically contribute to the development of subunit vaccines for M. tuberculosis. Here we performed computational analysis by using T-cell epitope prediction software (known as TEPITOPE) to predict promiscuous HLA-DR ligands in the products of the mce genes of M. tuberculosis. The analysis of the proliferative responses of CD4(+) T cells from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis to selected peptides displaying promiscuous binding to HLA-DR in vitro led us to the identification of a peptide that induced proliferation of CD4(+) cells from 50% of the tested subjects. This study demonstrates that a systematic computational approach can be used to identify T-cell epitopes in proteins expressed by an intracellular pathogen.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia e Genetica per le Scienze Mediche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Maddalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Panigada
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sturniolo
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Besozzi
authors.forename: Maria Giovanna
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Boccieri
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sinigaglia
authors.forename: Giuliana Gialdroni
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Grassi
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Grassi
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D017951:Antigen Presentation / Q000276:immunology; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D002455:Cell Division; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology*; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology; D011485:Protein Binding; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D010455:Peptides; C443482:mce2 protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis