title: Synthetic B-Cell Epitopes Eliciting Cross-Neutralizing Antibodies: Strategies for Future Dengue Vaccine.
abstract: Dengue virus (DENV) is a major public health threat worldwide. A key element in protection from dengue fever is the neutralising antibody response. Anti-dengue IgG purified from DENV-2 infected human sera showed reactivity against several peptides when evaluated by ELISA and epitope extraction techniques. A multi-step computational approach predicted six antigenic regions within the E protein of DENV-2 that concur with the 6 epitopes identified by the combined ELISA and epitope extraction approach. The selected peptides representing B-cell epitopes were attached to a known dengue T-helper epitope and evaluated for their vaccine potency. Immunization of mice revealed two novel synthetic vaccine constructs that elicited good humoral immune responses and produced cross-reactive neutralising antibodies against DENV-1, 2 and 3. The findings indicate new directions for epitope mapping and contribute towards the future development of multi-epitope based synthetic peptide vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Biomedical Sciences, Sunway University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Babu
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8216-3916
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ramanathan
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Biomedical Sciences, Sunway University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Chit Laa
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Poh
authors.affiliation: Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kirk
authors.affiliation: James Cook University Clinical School, Cairns Base Hospital, Cairns, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: William John Hannan
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: McBride
authors.affiliation: Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aaskov
authors.affiliation: Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grollo
mesh_terms: D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing / Q000276:immunology*; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D003429:Cross Reactions / Q000276:immunology; D053059:Dengue Vaccines / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D053059:Dengue Vaccines; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins