High Sequence Variability of the ppE18 Gene of Clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Strains Potentially Impacts Effectivity of Vaccine Candidate M72/AS01E.

ABSTRACT: The development of an effective vaccine is urgently needed to fight tuberculosis (TB) which is still the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent worldwide. One of the promising vaccine candidates M72/AS01E consists of two proteins subunits PepA and PPE18 coded by Rv0125 and Rv1196. However, preliminary data indicate a high level of sequence variability among clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) strains that might have an impact on the vaccine efficacy. To further investigate this finding, we determined ppE18 sequence variability in a well-characterized reference collection of 71 MTBC strains from 23 phylogenetic lineages representing the global MTBC diversity. In total, 100 sequence variations consisting of 96 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), three insert

SUBMITTER: Homolka S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4806982 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature