title: Prediction of Pan-Specific B-Cell Epitopes From Nucleocapsid Protein of Hantaviruses Causing Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome.
abstract: Hantaviruses are emerging viral pathogens that causes hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in the Americas, a severe, sometimes fatal, respiratory disease in humans with a case fatality rate of ≥50%. IgM and IgG-based serological detection methods are the most common approaches used for laboratory diagnosis of hantaviruses. Such emerging viral pathogens emphasizes the need for improved rapid diagnostic devices and vaccines incorporating pan-specific epitopes of genotypes. We predicted linear B-cell epitopes for hantaviruses that are specific to genotypes causing HCPS in humans using in silico prediction servers. We modeled the Andes and Sin Nombre hantavirus nucleocapsid protein to locate the identified epitopes. Based on the mean percent prediction probability score, epitope IMASKSVGS/TAEEKLKKKSAF was identified as the best candidate B-cell epitope specific for hantaviruses causing HCPS. Promiscuous epitopes were identified in the C-terminal of the protein. Our study for the first time has reported pan-specific B-cell epitopes for developing immunoassays in the detection of antibodies to hantaviruses causing HCPS. Identification of epitopes with pan-specific recognition of all genotypes causing HCPS could be valuable for the development of immunodiagnositic tools toward pan-detection of hantavirus antibodies in ELISA. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 2320-2324, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Sri Sakthi Amma Institute of Biomedical Research, Sri Narayani Hospital and Research Centre, Sripuram, Vellore 632 055, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Sagadevan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kalaiselvan
authors.affiliation: Sri Sakthi Amma Institute of Biomedical Research, Sri Narayani Hospital and Research Centre, Sripuram, Vellore 632 055, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Sathish
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sankar
authors.affiliation: Sri Sakthi Amma Institute of Biomedical Research, Sri Narayani Hospital and Research Centre, Sripuram, Vellore 632 055, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Mageshbabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramamurthy
authors.affiliation: Centre for Infectious Diseases and Control, School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT University, Vellore 632014, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Asit Ranjan
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.affiliation: Sri Sakthi Amma Institute of Biomedical Research, Sri Narayani Hospital and Research Centre, Sripuram, Vellore 632 055, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Balaji
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nandagopal
authors.affiliation: Sri Sakthi Amma Institute of Biomedical Research, Sri Narayani Hospital and Research Centre, Sripuram, Vellore 632 055, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Gopalan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sridharan
mesh_terms: D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology*; D005838:Genotype; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D018778:Hantavirus Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D018804:Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary
chemical_list: D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins
keywords: B CELL EPITOPES; BIOINFORMATICS; HANTAVIRUSES; HCPS; NUCLEOCAPSID