A comprehensive study of epitopes and immune reactivity among Plasmodium species

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundMalaria is a life-threatening disease caused by protozoan parasite of genusPlasmodium. Various antigenic proteins ofPlasmodiumare considered as the major targets for the development of an effective vaccine. The aim of the current study was a comprehensive analysis of the experimentally validated epitopes ofPlasmodiumobtained from various immunoassays.MethodsPlasmodiumspecies epitopes were prefetched from Immune Epitope Database (IEDB). Species specific classification of available epitopes was done for both human and murine malaria parasites. Further, these T cell and B cell epitopes along with MHC I/II binders of differentPlasmodiumspecies were examined to find out their capability to induce IFN-γ and IL-10 using IFNepitope and IL-10 Pred, respectively.ResultsThe species-specific classification of 6874 unique epitopes resulted in the selection of predominant human and murinePlasmodiumspecies. Further, the attempt was made to analyse the immune reactivity of these epitopes for their ability to induce cytokines namely IFN-γ and IL-10. Total, 2775 epitopes were predicted to possess IFN-γ inducing ability, whereas 1275 epitopes were found to be involved in the induction of IL-10.ConclusionsThis study facilitates the assessment ofPlasmodiumepitopes and associated proteins as a potential approach to design and develop an epitope-based vaccine. Moreover, the results highlight the epitope-based immunization in malaria to induce a protective immune response.