title: Proposing low-similarity peptide vaccines against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
abstract: Using the currently available proteome databases and based on the concept that a rare sequence is a potential epitope, epitopic sequences derived from Mycobacterium tuberculosis were examined for similarity score to the proteins of the host in which the epitopes were defined. We found that: (i) most of the bacterial linear determinants had peptide fragment(s) that were rarely found in the host proteins and (ii) the relationship between low similarity and epitope definition appears potentially applicable to T-cell determinants. The data confirmed the hypothesis that low-sequence similarity shapes or determines the epitope definition at the molecular level and provides a potential tool for designing new approaches to prevent, diagnose, and treat tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Ernesto Quagliariello, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Guglielmo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lucchese
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stufano
authors.forename: Darja
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kanduc
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution / Q000235:genetics; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D020543:Proteome / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D032581:Tuberculosis Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D020543:Proteome; D032581:Tuberculosis Vaccines; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit