In-silico identification of linear B-cell epitopes in specific proteins of Bartonella bacilliformis for the serological diagnosis of Carrion's disease.

Carrion´s disease is caused by Bartonella bacilliformis, it is a Gram-negative pleomorphic bacterium. B. bacilliformis is transmitted by Lutzomyia verrucarum in endemic areas of the Peruvian Inter-Andean valleys. Additionally, the pathogenicity of B. bacilliformis involves an initial infection of er...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Main Authors: Victor Jimenez-Vasquez, Karen Daphne Calvay-Sanchez, Yanina Zarate-Sulca, Giovanna Mendoza-Mujica
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0011321
https://doaj.org/article/68d03aebd2b44b24b1969a72b3c7b04c
Description
Summary:Carrion´s disease is caused by Bartonella bacilliformis, it is a Gram-negative pleomorphic bacterium. B. bacilliformis is transmitted by Lutzomyia verrucarum in endemic areas of the Peruvian Inter-Andean valleys. Additionally, the pathogenicity of B. bacilliformis involves an initial infection of erythrocytes and the further infection of endothelial cells, which mainly affects children and expectant women from extreme poverty rural areas. Therefore, the implementation of serological diagnostic methods and the development of candidate vaccines for the control of CD could be facilitated by the prediction of linear b-cell epitopes in specific proteins of B. bacilliformis by bioinformatics analysis. In this study, We used an in-silico analysis employing six web servers for the identification of epitopes in proteins of B. bacilliformis. The selection of B. bacilliformis-specific proteins and their analysis to identify epitopes allowed the selection of seven protein candidates that are expected to have high antigenic activity.