Fasciola hepatica: identification of CD4+ T-helper epitopes from the 11.5 kDa saposin-like protein SAP-2 using synthetic peptides.

ABSTRACT: Fasciola hepatica saposin-like protein (FhSAP-2) is a novel antigen expressed at an early stage of infection and has been shown to induce in rabbits a significant protection to infection with F. hepatica. There are no studies to identify the immunologically relevant regions of FhSAP-2. In this work the amino acid sequence of FhSAP-2 was analyzed to identify potential T-cell epitopes. A predictive algorithm identified four possible sites. Experimental determination of the T-cell epitopes was achieved using a panel of overlapping peptides spanning the entire sequence of FhSAP-2, which was evaluated for their ability to induce lymphoproliferative responses of spleen cells from 8 immunized BALB/c (H-2d) mice. Five different epitopes were identified. There was minimal agreement between theoreti

SUBMITTER: Espino AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2104776 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature