title: The Peptide Network between Tetanus Toxin and Human Proteins Associated with Epilepsy.
abstract: Sequence matching analyses show that Clostridium tetani neurotoxin shares numerous pentapeptides (68, including multiple occurrences) with 42 human proteins that, when altered, have been associated with epilepsy. Such a peptide sharing is higher than expected, nonstochastic, and involves tetanus toxin-derived epitopes that have been validated as immunopositive in the human host. Of note, an unexpected high level of peptide matching is found in mitogen-activated protein kinase 10 (MK10), a protein selectively expressed in hippocampal areas. On the whole, the data indicate a potential for cross-reactivity between the neurotoxin and specific epilepsy-associated proteins and may help evaluate the potential risk for epilepsy following immune responses induced by tetanus infection. Moreover, this study may contribute to clarifying the etiopathogenesis of the different types of epilepsy.
authors: Brain and Language Laboratory, Cluster of Excellence "Languages of Emotions", Free University of Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Guglielmo
authors: G
authors: Lucchese
authors: Faculty of Biology & Medicine, University of Lausanne, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors: Jean Pierre
authors: JP
authors: Spinosa
authors: Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and Biopharmaceutics, University of Bari, 70125 Bari, Italy.
authors: Darja
authors: 0000-0003-2111-4608
authors: D
authors: Kanduc