B cell epitopes–the part of an antigen recognized by an antibody–are conformational in nature; however, accurately predicting these epitopes is difficult for proteins without a known three-dimensional (3D) structure. DNASTAR presents the NeoClone method, a machine learning approach that improves the ability to predict linear B cell epitopes (a peptide segment) using only sequence-based informat...

Specific allergy vaccination is an efficient treatment for allergic disease; however, the development of safer vaccines would enable a more general use of the treatment. Determination of molecular structures of allergens and allergen-Ab complexes facilitates epitope mapping and enables a rational approach to the engineering of allergen molecules with reduced IgE binding. In this study, we descr...

BACKGROUND Characterisation of the specific antibody response, including the epitope binding pattern, is an essential task for understanding the molecular mechanisms of food allergy. Examination of antibody formation in a controlled environment requires animal models. The purpose of this study was to examine the amount and types of antibodies raised against three cow's milk allergens; β-lactogl...

The immune response against methyl-alpha-D-mannopyranoside mimicking 12-mer peptide (DVFYPYPYASGS) was analyzed at the molecular level towards understanding the equivalence of these otherwise disparate Ags. The Ab 7C4 recognized the immunizing peptide and its mimicking carbohydrate Ag with comparable affinities. Thermodynamic analyses of the binding interactions of both molecules suggested that...

Individuals infected with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) develop a robust immune response to the surface envelope glycoprotein gp46 that is partially protective. The relative contribution of antibodies to conformation-dependent epitopes, including those mediating virus neutralization as part of the humoral immune response, is not well defined. We assess in this report the relat...

Autoantibodies to the 65-kDa isoform of glutamate decarboxylase GAD65 (GAD65Ab) are strong candidates for a pathological role in Stiff-Person syndrome (SPS). We have analyzed the binding specificity of the GAD65Ab in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 12 patients with SPS by competitive displacement studies with GAD65-specific rFab-derived from a number of human and mouse mAbs specific for ...

Many RNA viruses encode error-prone polymerases which introduce mutations into B and T cell epitopes, providing a mechanism for immunological escape. When regions of hypervariability are found within immunodominant epitopes with no known function, they are referred to as "decoy epitopes," which often deceptively imprint the host's immune response. In this work, a decoy epitope was identified in...

Bla g 2 is a cockroach allergen of great importance. This study was conducted to identify IgE-binding epitope(s) of Bla g 2 using the recombinant protein technique. Approximately 50% of tested sera showed IgE reactivity to Pichia-expressed Bla g 2 (PrBla g 2) and E. coli-expressed Bla g 2 (ErBla g 2). Only 5.3% of serum samples showed stronger reactivity to PrBla g 2 than ErBla g 2, indicating ...