Exploiting the Burkholderia Pseudomallei Acute Phase Antigen Bpsl2765 for Structure-Based Epitope Discovery/Design in Structural Vaccinology.
Gourlay, L.J., Peri, C., Ferrer-Navarro, M., Conchillo-Sole, O., Gori, A., Rinchai, D., Thomas, R.J., Champion, O.L., Michell, S.L., Kewcharoenwong, C., Nithichanon, A., Lassaux, P., Perletti, L., Longhi, R., Lertmemongkolchai, G., Titball, R.W., Daura, X., Colombo, G., Bolognesi, M.(2013) Chem Biol 20: 1147
- PubMed: 23993463 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2013.07.010
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
4B5C - PubMed Abstract: 
We solved the crystal structure of Burkholderia pseudomallei acute phase antigen BPSL2765 in the context of a structural vaccinology study, in the area of melioidosis vaccine development. Based on the structure, we applied a recently developed method for epitope design that combines computational epitope predictions with in vitro mapping experiments and successfully identified a consensus sequence within the antigen that, when engineered as a synthetic peptide, was selectively immunorecognized to the same extent as the recombinant protein in sera from melioidosis-affected subjects. Antibodies raised against the consensus peptide were successfully tested in opsonization bacterial killing experiments and antibody-dependent agglutination tests of B. pseudomallei. Our strategy represents a step in the development of immunodiagnostics, in the production of specific antibodies and in the optimization of antigens for vaccine development, starting from structural and physicochemical principles.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Biosciences, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy.