Towards an immunosense vaccine to prevent toxoplasmosis: protective Toxoplasma gondii epitopes restricted by HLA-A* 0201

H Cong, EJ Mui, WH Witola, J Sidney, J Alexander… - Vaccine, 2011 - Elsevier
H Cong, EJ Mui, WH Witola, J Sidney, J Alexander, A Sette, A Maewal, R McLeod
Vaccine, 2011Elsevier
The ideal vaccine to protect against toxoplasmosis in humans would include antigens that
elicit a protective T helper cell type 1 immune response, and generate long-lived IFN-γ-
producing CD8+ T cells. Herein, we utilized a predictive algorithm to identify candidate HLA-
A02 supertype epitopes from Toxoplasma gondii proteins. Thirteen peptides elicited
production of IFN-γ from PBMC of HLA-A02 supertype persons seropositive for T. gondii
infection but not from seronegative controls. These peptides displayed high-affinity binding …
The ideal vaccine to protect against toxoplasmosis in humans would include antigens that elicit a protective T helper cell type 1 immune response, and generate long-lived IFN-γ-producing CD8+ T cells. Herein, we utilized a predictive algorithm to identify candidate HLA-A02 supertype epitopes from Toxoplasma gondii proteins. Thirteen peptides elicited production of IFN-γ from PBMC of HLA-A02 supertype persons seropositive for T. gondii infection but not from seronegative controls. These peptides displayed high-affinity binding to HLA-A02 proteins. Immunization of HLA-A*0201 transgenic mice with these pooled peptides, with a universal CD4+ epitope peptide called PADRE, formulated with adjuvant GLA-SE, induced CD8+ T cell IFN-γ production and protected against parasite challenge. Peptides identified in this study provide candidates for inclusion in immunosense epitope-based vaccines.
Elsevier