title: Analysis of ChimeriVax Japanese Encephalitis Virus envelope for T-cell epitopes and comparison to circulating strain sequences.
abstract: T-cell epitope variability is associated with viral immune escape and may influence the outcome of vaccination against the highly variable Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV). We computationally analyzed the ChimeriVax-JEV vaccine envelope sequence for T helper epitopes that are conserved in 12 circulating JEV strains and discovered 75% conservation among putative epitopes. Among non-identical epitopes, only minor amino acid changes that would not significantly affect HLA-binding were present. Therefore, in most cases, circulating strain epitopes could be restricted by the same HLA and are likely to stimulate a cross-reactive T-cell response. Based on this analysis, we predict no significant abrogation of ChimeriVax-JEV-conferred protection against circulating JEV strains.
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, United States. AnnieD@EpiVax.com
authors.forename: Anne S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: De Groot
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Leonard
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moise
authors.forename: Farshad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guirakhoo
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Monath
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D009033:Culicidae; D004664:Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / Q000145:classification* / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D053060:West Nile Virus Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: C445780:ChimeriVax; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D008024:Ligands; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D053060:West Nile Virus Vaccines