Peptide Sharing Between Viruses and DLX Proteins: A Potential Cross-Reactivity Pathway to Neuropsychiatric Disorders.

ABSTRACT: The present study seeks to determine potential associations between viral infections and neuropsychiatric diseases. To address this issue, we investigated the peptide commonalities between viruses that have been related to psychiatric and neurological disorders-such as rubella, human immunodeficiency virus, and herpesviruses-and human distal-less homeobox (DLX) proteins expressed in developing brain-namely, DLX1, DLX2, DLX5, and DLX6. Peptide matching analyses revealed a high degree of pentapeptide sharing. From an immunological perspective, this overlap is relevant because pentapeptides are endowed with immunogenicity and antigenicity-that is, they are immune determinants. Moreover, infection-induced immune cross-reactions might have functional, spatial, and temporal implications related

SUBMITTER: Lucchese G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5871705 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature