EpIC: a rational pipeline for epitope immunogenicity characterization.
Efforts to develop peptide-based vaccines, in particular those requiring site-specific targeting of self-proteins, rely on the ability to optimize the immunogenicity of the peptide epitopes. Currently, screening of candidate vaccines is typically performed through low-throughput, high-cost animal trials. To improve on this we present the program EpIC, which enables high-throughput prediction of peptide immunogenicity based on the endogenous occurrence of B-cell epitopes within native protein sequences. This information informs rational selection of immunogenicity-optimized epitopes for peptide vaccines.


METHODS
EpIC is available as a web server at http://saphire.usask.ca/saphire/epic.
Department of Biochemistry, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E5 Canada, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E3 Canada and.
Kristen
K
Marciniuk
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E3 Canada and Department of Computer Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5C9 Canada.
Brett
B
Trost
Department of Biochemistry, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E5 Canada, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E3 Canada and.
Scott
S
Napper
D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D012984:Software; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000276:immunology
D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; D010455:Peptides; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit