Predictions of Immunological Cross-Reactions of C-Terminal Peptide of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin beta-Chain Based Contraceptive Vaccine with Autoantigens.
Cross-reactions of anti-human chorionic gonadotropin-beta (HCG-beta) antibody elicited by HCG-beta based antifertility vaccines with other autoantigens may occur due to identical or homologous protein subsequences. I have detected hitherto unreported identity of HCG-beta sequence with tetrapeptides of PECAM-1, galactosyl transferase-associated protein kinase, insulin receptor-related receptor and carboxypeptidase E. A predicted potential epitope of C-terminal peptide (CTP) of HCG-beta was identical to a tetrapeptide stretch of MCSF-1. The first 30 residue stretch of CTP was found to have yet unknown homologies of more than 56% with many auto-antigens including 60.1% with centromere protein C. The last 30 residue stretch of CTP was found for the first time to have 61.4-65.4% homology with subsequences of autoantigens SP-100, PM-SCL, D1 (64 kDa), lupus KU (p86), small nuclear ribonucleoprotein-associated proteins N, B and B', major centromere autoantigen B, centromere protein C, and dihydrolipoamide acetyl transferase component E2 of pyruvate, respectively.
Saxena
Hari M.
HM
College of Veterinary Science Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India.