title: Design and characterization of polytope construct with multiple B and TH epitopes of Japanese encephalitis virus.
abstract: Japanese encephalitis (JE) remains a major public health threat with vaccination as the only measure for its prevention. Epitope-based vaccination is a promising approach for achieving protective immunity and avoid immunopathology in Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection due to flavivirus cross-reactivity. We have mapped B-cell epitopes from JEV envelope protein, responsible for elicitation of neutralizing antibodies. Incorporation of T helper (T(H)) epitopes, along with these, imparted protective immunity to the host. In the present study, based on in silico epitope selection we optimized and proposed a polytope DNA construct (P-JEV) consisting B-cell and T(H) epitopes from the JEV envelope (E) protein as well as non-structural protein-1 (NS1). The immunogenicity and protective efficacy of P-JEV was assessed by in vitro and in vivo experiments. The expressed P-JEV showed reactivity in in vitro assays with JEV monoclonal antibodies. Protective efficacy of P-JEV was assessed in BALB/c mice. Our findings indicate that P-JEV may be a candidate vaccine for the prevention of JEV infection.
authors.affiliation: Encephalitis Group, National Institute of Virology, Sus Road Campus, 130/1, Pashan, Pune 411021, India.
authors.forename: Reshma
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.forename: Gajanan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sapkal
authors.forename: Lata
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mahishi
authors.forename: Pratip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shil
authors.forename: Milind M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Gore
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D004664:Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D022321:Japanese Encephalitis Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D022321:Japanese Encephalitis Vaccines; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins