title: Antigenicity of chimeric and cyclic synthetic peptides based on nonstructural proteins of GBV-C/HGV.
abstract: In this work, new putative epitopes located in nonstructural proteins of GBV-C/HGV were synthesized using solid-phase chemistry for their use in immunoassays. The antigens were obtained in linear, chimeric and cyclic forms with the main aim of improving the sensitivity of the enzyme immunoassays. Our results showed, on one hand, that the combination of different antigens seems to be necessary to ensure good sensitivity and more specificity and, on the other hand, that cyclic compounds show higher ability to recognize anti-GBV-C/HGV antibodies than its parent peptide. Furthermore, CD and FTIR have been used in conjunction to characterize the conformational changes therein with synthetic constructs that could explain their different antigenicity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Peptide and Protein Chemistry, IIQAB-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ercilla
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Haro
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018178:Flaviviridae Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D029407:GB virus C / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic / Q000032:analysis / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D000939:Epitopes; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; C455041:NS4A cofactor peptide, Hepatitis C virus; C080107:NS4B protein, flavivirus; C096041:NS5 protein, flavivirus; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins