title: Induction of virus-specific neutralizing immune response against West Nile and Japanese encephalitis viruses by chimeric peptides representing T-helper and B-cell epitopes.
abstract: West Nile virus (WNV) and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), the members of JEV serocomplex group are pathogens of global health concern. The co-circulation of these viruses poses challenges in effective diagnostics due to antigenic similarity between the E-protein of these viruses. The present study aimed to design chimeric peptides and study the immune response against the same. B-cell epitopes were predicted on structural proteins of WNV and JEV based on bioinformatics tools. The peptides representing to these B-cell epitopes were synthesized and subjected to ELISA. Two peptides, one each from WNV (named WE147) and JEV (named JE40) E-protein, showed virus-specific and strong reactivity to the immune mice sera and human clinical samples. The chimeric peptides for WNV and JEV were constructed by synthesizing the B-cell epitope of WNV (WE147) or JEV (JE40) with T-helper epitope (JM17) separated by diglycine spacer in between. The immune response generated against these chimeric peptides was found to be specific to the respective B-cell epitopes. The anti-peptide sera showed virus-specific reactivity in ELISA and in immunofluorescence assay with no cross-reactivity. Also, the anti-peptide sera could neutralize JE and WN viruses in an in vitro virus neutralization assay. The B-cell epitopes identified in the present study may be used as diagnostic markers for differentiating between WN and JE virus infections. The present study can form a basis for future design of vaccines.
authors: Encephalitis Group, National Institute of Virology, Sus Road Campus, 130/1, Pashan, Pune 411021, India.
authors: Roopesh Singh
authors: RS
authors: Gangwar
authors: Pratip
authors: P
authors: Shil
authors: Gajanan N
authors: GN
authors: Sapkal
authors: Siraj A
authors: SA
authors: Khan
authors: Milind M
authors: MM
authors: Gore
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing / Q000097:blood*; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D004664:Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins