Identification of a dominant murine T-cell epitope in recombinant protein P29 from Echinococcus granulosus

• Published in: Acta biochimica et biophysica Sinica 2022-04, Vol.54 (4), p.482
• Main Authors: Lv, Yongxue, Zhu, Yazhou, Chang, Liangliang, Yang, Jihui, Zhao, Yinqi, Zhao, Jiaqing, Wang, Yana, Zhu, Mingxing, Wu, Changyou, Zhao, Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes; Echinococcosis; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte - genetics; Mice; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; Zoonoses
• ISSN: 1745-7270
• DOI: 10.3724/abbs.2022036

Echinococcus granulosus causes echinococcosis, an important zoonotic disease worldwide and a major public health issue. Vaccination is an economical and practical approach for controlling E. granulosus. We have previously revealed that a recombinant protein P29 (rEg.P29) is a good vaccine candidate against E. granulosus. However, T cell immunogenic epitopes have not been identified. In the present study, we use rEg.P29-immunized mice as models to screen immunogenic epitopes for the construction of a novel multi-epitope vaccine. We search for immunodominant epitopes from an overlapping peptide library to screen the peptides of rEg.P29. Our results confirm that rEg.P29 immunization in mice elicits the activation of T cells and induces cellular immune responses. Further analyses show that a T cell epitope within amino acids 86–100 of rEg.P29 elicits significant antigen-specific IFN-γ production in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and promotes specific T-cell activation and proliferation. Collectively, these results provide a reference for the construction of a novel vaccine against broad E. granulosus genotypes based on epitopes of rEg.P29.