title: Bioinformatic prediction of epitopes in the Emy162 antigen ofEchinococcus multilocularis.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to predict the secondary structure and the T- and B-cell epitopes of theEchinococcus multilocularisEmy162 antigen, in order to reveal the dominant epitopes of the antigen. The secondary structure of the protein was analyzed using the Gamier-Robson method, and the improved self-optimized prediction method (SOPMA) server. The T- and B-cell epitopes of Emy162 were predicted using Immune Epitope Database (IEDB), Syfpeithi, Bcepred and ABCpred online software. The characteristics of hydrophilicity, flexibility, antigenic propensity and exposed surface area were predicted. The tertiary structure of the Emy162 protein was predicted by the 3DLigandSite server. The results demonstrated that random coils and β sheets accounted for 34.64 and 21.57% of the secondary structure of the Emy162 protein, respectively. This was indicative of the presence of potential dominant antigenic epitopes in Emy162. Following bioinformatic analysis, numerous distinct antigenic epitopes of Emy162 were identified. The high-scoring T-cell epitopes were located at positions 16-29, 36-39, 97-103, 119-125 and 128-135, whilst the likely B-cell epitopes were located at positions 8-10, 19-25, 44-50, 74-81, 87-93, 104-109 and 128-136. In conclusion, five T-cell and seven B-cell dominant epitopes of the Emy162 antigen were revealed by the bioinformatic methods, which may be of use in the development of a dominant epitope vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Xinjiang National Clinical Research Base of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830000; ; State Key Laboratory Incubation Base of Major Diseases in Xinjiang and Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Echinococcosis, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830054, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yanhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xianfei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yuejie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Xiaotao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Chunbao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Xiaoan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Haimei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Xiumin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Jian-Bing
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Ding
keywords: B cell epitopes; Emy162; T cell epitopes; bioinformatics; secondary structure