title: Design and evaluation of a multi-epitope peptide against Japanese encephalitis virus infection in BALB/c mice.
abstract: Epitope-based vaccination is a promising means to achieve protective immunity and to avoid immunopathology in Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection. Several B-cell and T-cell epitopes have been mapped to the E protein of JEV, and they are responsible for the elicitation of the neutralizing antibodies and CTLs that impart protective immunity to the host. In the present study, we optimized a proposed multi-epitope peptide (MEP) using an epitope-based vaccine strategy, which combined six B-cell epitopes (amino acid residues 75-92, 149-163, 258-285, 356-362, 373-399 and 397-403) and two T-cell epitopes (amino acid residues 60-68 and 436-445) from the E protein of JEV. This recombinant protein was expressed in Escherichia coli, named rMEP, and its protective efficacy against JEV infection was assessed in BALB/c mice. The results showed that rMEP was highly immunogenic and could elicit high titer neutralizing antibodies and cell-mediated immune responses. It provided complete protection against lethal challenge with JEV in mice. Our findings indicate that the multi-epitope vaccine rMEP may be an attractive candidate vaccine for the prevention of JEV infection.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Disease Diagnosis and Immunology, Ministry of Agriculture at Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Jian-chao
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Yi-zhu
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Deng-ke
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishag
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Rui-bing
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Pu-yan
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis; D004664:Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / Q000276:immunology*; D004672:Encephalitis, Japanese / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D022321:Japanese Encephalitis Vaccines / Q000276:immunology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D010455:Peptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D016207:Cytokines; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D022321:Japanese Encephalitis Vaccines; D010455:Peptides; D011994:Recombinant Proteins