Pathogen Proteins Eliciting Antibodies Do Not Share Epitopes with Host Proteins
Author Information
Author(s): Amela Isaac Cedano, Juan Querol, Enrique Querol
Primary Institution: Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Hypothesis
The immune system will discard eliciting antibodies against pathogen proteins sharing epitopes with host proteins.
Conclusion
The study found that none of the analyzed linear B-cell epitopes shared sequence identity with human proteins, suggesting a mechanism to avoid autoimmunity.
Supporting Evidence
- None of the 7353 linear B-cell epitopes analyzed shared any sequence identity region with human proteins.
- Only 1% of the 2175 exposed proteins analyzed contained a stretch of shared sequence with the human proteome.
- The findings suggest the existence of a mechanism to avoid autoimmunity.
Takeaway
The study looked at proteins from germs that can make you sick and found that they don't look like our own proteins, which helps prevent our bodies from attacking themselves.
Methodology
A sequence-based computational analysis was performed using the BLASTP algorithm to compare linear B-cell epitopes with human proteins.
Limitations
The study focused only on linear B-cell epitopes and did not include conformational epitopes.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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