<p>The human coronavirus NL63 was discovered in 2004 by a team of researchers in Amsterdam. Since its discovery it has been shown to have worldwide spread and affects mainly children, aged 0-5 years old, the immunocompromised and the elderly. Infection with HCoV-NL63 commonly results in mild upper respiratory tract infections and presents as the common cold, with symptoms including fever, cough, sore throat and rhinorrhoea. Lower respiratory tract findings are less common but may develop into more serious complications including bronchiolitis, pneumonia and croup. The primary function of the HCoV-NL63 nucleocapsid (N) protein is the formation of theprotective ribonucleocapsid core. For this particle to assemble, the N-protein undergoes N-N dimerization and then interacts with viral RNA. Besides the primary structural role of the Nprotein, it is also understood to be involved in viral RNA transcription, translation and replication, including several other physiological functions. The N-protein is also highly antigenic and elicits a strong immune response in infected patients. For this reason the N-protein may serve as a target for the development of diagnostic assays. We have used bioinformatic analysis to analyze the HCoV-NL63 N-protein and compared it to coronavirus N-homologues. This bioinformatic analysis provided the data to generate recombinant clones for expression in a bacterial system. We constructed recombinant clones of the N-protein of SARS-CoV and HCoV-NL63 and synthesized truncated clones corresponding to the N- and C-terminal of the HCoV-NL63 N-protein. These heterologously expressed proteins will serve the basis for several post-expression studies including characterizing the immunogenic epitope of the N-protein as well identifying any antibody crossreactivity between coronavirus species.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma. / Bibliography: leaves 122-140.

No description available.

A tuberculose (TB) é uma doença infecciosa causada pelo Mycobacterium tuberculosis, que necessita de uma vacina mais efetiva, pois a única vacina licenciada apresenta eficácia variando entre 0 a 80%. Entre as estratégias em desenvolvimento destaca-se a vacina DNAhsp65, que consiste de um plasmídeo carregando o gene hsp65 de Mycobacterium leprae, que demonstra eficácia na profilaxia da TB. Como as HSPs são proteínas altamente conservadas e podem desencadear respostas auto-imunes, seria interessante o desenvolvimento de uma vacina baseada na utilização apenas dos epítopos da proteína Hsp65 reconhecidos por células T. Estudos com vacinas de DNA baseadas na fusão de peptídeos à glicoproteína D (gD) do Herpes Vírus Tipo-1 têm mostrado maior ativação de linfócitos T e B peptídeos-específicos. Dessa forma, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo a construção e avaliação da imunogenicidade de vacinas de DNA constituídas pelo gene da proteína gD e a seqüência gênica que codifica os cinco epítopos da Hsp65. Para a obtenção da seqüência codificadora dos epitopos, denominada Vac1, foi realizada uma síntese gênica e em seguida, essa seqüência foi fusionada ao gene que codifica a gD em dois sítios presentes em seu interior, no sítio da enzima ApaI e entre os sítios das enzimas PvuII e ApaI, com a retirada de uma porção central da gD. Além dessas construções, também foi realizada a construção da Vac2 pela ligação de fragmentos Vac1 que em seguida foi fusionada ao gene da gD no sítio de ApaI. Essas construções, gDVac1AA, gDVac1PA e gDVac2 foram clonadas no vetor pVAX1 e avaliadas quanto a expressão das proteínas. Após a caracterização, camundongos foram imunizados com quatro doses das vacinas e a imunogenicidade avaliada após trinta dias da última dose. Os ensaios ex vivo foram realizados com o soro para dosagem de anticorpos e com as células do baço, que foram estimuladas com as proteínas Hsp65, Vac1 e Vac2. Como resultado, obtivemos duas construções vacinais, pVAXgDVac1PA e pVAXgDVac2, eficientes em induzir anticorpos do subtipo IgG2a específicos a proteína e aos epitopos da Hsp65 e as três vacinas, pVAXgDVac1AA, pVAXgDVac1PA e pVAXgDVac2, foram capazes de induzir proliferação de linfócitos T e produção de IFN- após estímulo ex vivo. As vacinas foram, portanto, eficazes em desencadear um padrão de resposta Th1 importante no combate ao bacilo M. tuberculosis. / Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease, caused by the infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and needs a vaccine more effective, for the only current permitted vaccine shows its effectiveness varying of 0-80%. DNAhsp65 vaccine is among the strategy in development, it consists of a plasmid loading the Mycobacterium leprae hsp65 gene and has been efficient in the prophylaxy of TB. As the HSPs are conserved and they can induce autoimmune disease, a vaccine based only in the epitopes of the Hsp65 protein recognized for T cells could be more interesting. Studies with DNA vaccines based on the fusion of peptides to Herpes Type Virus-1 D glycoprotein (gD) have improved the activation of peptide-specific T and B cells. In this context, the aim of this study was the construction of DNA vaccines encoding gD protein plus Mycobacterium leprae Hsp65 protein epitopes and the evaluation of its immunogenicity. The gene sequence encoding the five Hsp65 epitopes, called Vac1, was obtained by synthetic gene and, after that, this sequence was fusioned in two sites inside gene that enconding the gD, in the ApaI enzyme site and between the PvuII and ApaI enzyme sites with the withdrawal of a gD central portion. In addition, Vac2 was contructed through the linking of Vac1 fragments followed by its insertion in the ApaI site inside gD gene. These constructions, gDVac1AA, gDVac1PA and gDVac2 were cloned in pVAX1 vector and they were evaluated to protein expression. After the characterization, mice were immunized with four doses of vaccine and the immunogenicity was evaluated after thirty days from the last immunization. The ex vivo assays were carried by quantification of antibodies in the serum and the splenocytes were stimulated with the Hsp65, Vac1 and Vac2 proteins. As result, two vaccine constructions, pVAXgDVac1PA and pVAXgDVac2 were efficient in the induction of IgG2a subtype antibodies specific to Hsp65 protein and its respective epitopes. All the three vaccines pVAXgDVac1AA, pVAXgDVac1PA and pVAXgDVac2 were capable to induce T cell proliferation and IFN- production after stimulation. Therefore, the vaccines were efficient to induce a Th1 profile which is important in the combat to Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacillus.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-03-10T13:11:37Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Tese Rafael de Freitas e Silva.pdf: 13510018 bytes, checksum: 080b7ee10e7a8be555cb7a7ca29c10fb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-10T13:11:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Tese Rafael de Freitas e Silva.pdf: 13510018 bytes, checksum: 080b7ee10e7a8be555cb7a7ca29c10fb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-06 / As leishmanioses são doenças causadas por protozoários do gênero Leishmania e estão presentes em 98 países e territórios e possuem incidência anual de 2 milhões de casos. A Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis (L.V. braziliensis) é uma das principais espécies causadoras da leishmaniose cutânea (LC) no Brasil. Apesar disso, ainda não há uma vacina segura e eficaz para ser utilizada em seres humanos. Nesse sentido, o objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar no proteoma predito de L.V. braziliensis, potenciais epítopos de linfócitos T e avaliá-los por meio de ensaios imunológicos. No primeiro capítulo, o proteoma predito de L. braziliensis foi comparado ao de outras espécies e analisado quanto a presença de epítopos. Nessa etapa foram encontrados epítopos derivados de mais de 8 mil proteínas conservadas entre diferentes espécies de Leishmania. Os epítopos foram clusterizados e então utilizados para etapa de docagem molecular com estruturas de MHC I e MHC II depositadas no Protein Data Bank. A docagem molecular resultou em epítopos peptídicos de 15 aminoácidos com alta afinidade de ligação às moléculas de MHC I e MHC II. Os 10 melhores resultados foram então sintetizados e avaliados, in vitro, quanto à capacidade de estimular a proliferação de células mononucleares do sangue periférico (PBMC) de indivíduos com LC após o tratamento (PT). Os resultados indicaram que 50% das moléculas testadas apresentaram capacidade de estimular, significativamente (p<0,05), a proliferação celular quando comparado às células de indivíduos saudáveis que não vivem em região endêmica para LC. No segundo capítulo, os peptídeos foram avaliados quanto à capacidade de estimular a proliferação de PBMC de indivíduos com LC em sua fase ativa (AD) e indivíduos moradores de área endêmica para LC resistentes à infecção (RT). Em paralelo, quantificou-se a expressão do fator de transcrição T-bet em PBMC de indivíduos PT, e citocinas dos perfis Th1, Th2 e Th17 foram mensuradas no sobrenadante de cultura das células de indivíduos PT e AD. Os resultados demonstraram altos níveis de proliferação nas células do grupo RT para todos os peptídeos testados. Além disso, níveis significativos de Tbet foram observados em linfócitos T CD4+ e CD8+ após estímulo com seis peptídeos. Níveis significativos de IFN-γ, TNF e IL-6 foram observados no sobrenadante das células do grupo PT com quatro dos peptídeos testados. Altos níveis dessas citocinas também foram encontrados no sobrenadante do grupo AD. No terceiro capítulo, avaliou-se o efeito dos peptídeos sobre células dendríticas de medula (BMDC) murinas, produção de citocinas de sobrenadante, e células dendríticas esplênicas murinas após estímulo com os peptídeos. Verificou-se altos níveis de MHC II e CD40 em uma subpopulação de BMDC estimuladas com as moléculas e altos níves de TNF e IL-6 após 48h de estímulo. Para as células esplênicas, foram observados altos níveis de subpopulações celulares expressando CD11b+, IL-12p70+, CD205+ e CD11b+ após estímulo com o peptídeo que teve o melhor resultado in silico. Por fim, os resultados indicam o grande potencial imunogênico que os epítopos identificados apresentam, o que dá suporte ao desenvolvimento futuro de abordagens vacinais. / The leishmaniasis are diseases caused by protozoans from the genus Leishmania which are present in 98 countries and territories, with an annual incidence of 2 million cases. Among the other species, Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis is the main specie implicated with cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Brazil. Besides that, there is no safe and effective vaccine against leishmaniasis to be applied in humans. In this context, the aim of this work was to identify in the predicted proteome of L. braziliensis potential CD4+ and CD8+ T cell epitopes and evaluate them by immunological assays. In the first chapter, the predicted proteome of L. braziliensis was compared with other species and analyzed for the presence of epitopes. In this step, epitopes from more than 8,000 conserved proteins were found among other species of Leishmania. The epitopes were clustered and then used for the molecular docking with MHC I and MHC II structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank. This approach resulted in 15 aminoacids peptide epitopes with high binding affinity for MHC I and MHC II. The 10 best results were synthesized and evaluated in vitro for their capacity to stimulate the proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of individuals with CL post treatment (PT). The results have shown that 50% of the tested molecules had the capacity to stimulate, significantly (p<0.05), cell proliferation when compared with cells of healthy individuals living in non-endemic regions. For the second chapter, the peptides were evaluated for their capacity to stimulate the proliferation of PBMC from CL individuals with active disease (AD) and of individuals resistant to infection (RT) living in endemic region. In parallel, the T-bet transcription factor expression was quantified in PBMC of PT individuals, and cytokines from the Th1, Th2 and Th17 profiles were measured in culture supernatant of PT and AD groups. High levels of cell proliferation in the RT group were demonstrated for all peptides tested. Moreover, significant levels of T-bet in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were verified after stimulation with six peptides. For IFN-γ, TNF and IL-6, significant levels were detected in the supernatant of cultures from the PT group with four peptides tested. High levels of these same cytokines were also present in the supernatant of AD group. In the third chapter, the peptide effects over murine bone marrow dendritic cells (BMDC), the production of cytokines in the supernatant and murine spleen dendritic cell subsets were evaluated after peptide stimuli. High levels of MHC II and CD40 were verified for stimulated BMDC and high levels of TNF and IL-6 after 48h of stimuli. For spleen cells, high levels of cells expressing CD11b+, IL-12p70+, CD205+ e CD11b+ were observed after stimulation with the peptide which showed the best in silico result. In conclusion, the results indicate the great immunogenic potential of the identified peptides and support the further development of vaccine approaches using those molecules.

Introdução: Uma proporção significante de pacientes infectados por HIV-1 (pacientes HIV-1+) tratados com inibidores de protease (IPs) desenvolve mutações de resistência. Estudos recentes têm mostrado que células T CD8+ de pacientes HIV- 1+ reconhecem epitopos de Pol incluindo mutações selecionadas por drogas. Nenhum epitopo CD4+ da protease foi descrito na base de dados de Los Alamos. Objetivo: Considerando que a protease de HIV-1 é alvo de terapia antiretroviral e que essa pressão pode selecionar mutações, nós investigamos se mutações selecionadas por IPs afetariam o reconhecimento de epitopos da protease de HIV-1 por células T CD4+ em pacientes tratados com IPs. Nós investigamos o reconhecimento de três regiões da protease preditas de conter epitopos de células T CD4+ bem como mutações induzidas por IPs por células T CD4+ em pacientes HIV- 1+ tratados com IPs. Materiais e Métodos: Quarenta pacientes HIV-1+ tratados com IPs foram incluídos (30 em uso de Lopinavir/ritonavir, 9 em uso de Atazanavir/Ritonavir e 1 em uso exclusivo de Atazanavir). Para cada paciente determinou-se a seqüência endógena da protease de HIV-1, genotipagem viral e tipagem HLA classe II. Utilizamos o algoritmo TEPITOPE para selecionar peptídeos promíscuos, ligadores de múltiplas moléculas HLA-DR, codificando as três regiões da protease de HIV-1 cepa HXB2 (HXB2 4-23, 45-64, e 76-95) e 32 peptídeos adicionais contidos nas mesmas regiões incorporando as mutações induzidas por IPs mais freqüentes no Brasil. Os 35 peptídeos foram sintetizados. Respostas proliferativas de células T CD4+ e CD8+ aos peptídeos foram determinadas por ensaios de proliferação com diluição do corante CFSE. Ensaios de ligação a alelos HLA classe II foram realizados para confirmar a promiscuidade desses peptídeos e avaliar a habilidade de se ligarem a moléculas HLA presentes em cada paciente. Resultados: Todos os peptídeos foram reconhecidos por pelo menos um paciente e respostas proliferativas de células T CD4+ e CD8+ a pelo menos um peptídeo da protease de HIV-1 foram encontradas em 78% e 75% dos pacientes, respectivamente. A terceira região (Protease 76 95) foi a mais freqüentemente reconhecida. Ao compararmos as respostas de células T às seqüências da protease do HIV-1 endógeno, observamos que a maioria dos pacientes não foi capaz de reconhecer peptídeos idênticos às essas seqüências, porém reconheceram peptídeos variantes diferentes das mesmas regiões. Apenas sete pacientes responderam às seqüências endógenas. Verificamos que diversos peptídeos endógenos que não foram reconhecidos apresentaram ausência de ligação a alelos HLA portados por estes pacientes, sugerindo que mutações selecionadas por pressão imune tenham levado ao escape de apresentação de antígeno e evasão de resposta de linfócitos T CD4+. Alternativamente, isso poderia ser explicado pela presença de um vírus replicante distinto presente no plasma uma vez que somente foram obtidas seqüências provirais. Conclusão: Epitopos selvagens e mutantes da protease do HIV-1 reconhecidos por células T CD4+ foram identificados. Também verificamos que a maior parte dos pacientes não reconheceu as seqüências da protease endógena enquanto que reconheceram seqüências variantes. O reconhecimento de seqüências não-endógenas poderia ser hipoteticamente conseqüência de alvo de populações HIV-1 minoritárias; protease de HERV que contém regiões de similaridade com a protease do HIV-1; ou seqüências de HIV-1 presentes apenas em parceiros virêmicos. A falha de reconhecimento de seqüências endógenas seria mais provável devido ao escape imune, do que ao nível de apresentação ou reconhecimento por células T. Isso implica em uma conseqüência patofisiológica na evasão de respostas de células T contra a protease de HIV-1 e no fato de ser tradicionalmente considerada uma proteína pouco antigênica / Introduction: A significant proportion of protease inhibitor (PI)-treated HIV-1 infected (HIV-1+) patients develop resistance mutations. Recent studies have shown that CD8+ T cells from HIV-1 patients can recognize antiretroviral drug-induced mutant Pol epitopes. No HIV-1 protease CD4 epitopes are described in the Los Alamos database. Aims: Given that the protease of HIV-1 is a target of antiretroviral therapy and this pressure may lead to the selection of mutations, we investigated whether PI-induced mutations affect the recognition of HIV-1 protease epitopes by CD4 + T cells in PI-treated patients. We investigated the recognition of three protease regions predicted to harbor CD4+ T cell epitopes as well as PI-induced mutations by CD4+ T cells of PI-treated HIV-1+ patients. Methods: Forty PI-treated HIV-1+ patients were included (30 undergoing Lopinavir/ritonavir, 9 undergoing Atazanavir/ritonavir and 1 undergoing exclusively Atazanavir treatment). For each patients, the endogenous HIV-1 protease sequence, viral genotype and HLA class II typing were determined. We used the TEPITOPE algorithm to select promiscuous, multiple HLA-DR-binding peptides encoding 3 regions of HIV-1 HXB2 strain protease (HXB2 4-23, 45-64, and 76-95) and 32 additional peptides contained in the same regions, but encompassing the most frequent PI-induced mutations in Brazil. The 35 peptides were thus synthesized. Proliferative responses of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells against peptides were determined by the CFSE dilution assay. HLA class II binding assays were made to confirm the promiscuity of these peptides and evaluate their ability to bind the HLA molecules carried by each patient. Results: All tested peptides were recognized by at least one patient and proliferative responses of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells against at least one HIV-1 protease peptide were found in 78% and 75% patients, respectively. The third region (Protease 76-95) was the most frequently recognized. By comparing T-cell responses to HIV-1 endogenous protease sequences, we found that most patients failed to recognize identical peptides of those sequences, but recognized different variant peptides of the same region. Only seven patients responded to endogenous sequences. We found that several endogenous peptides that failed to be recognized showed no binding to the HLA alleles carried by that given patient, suggesting that mutations selected by immune pressure have led to escape of antigen presentation, as well as direct escape of the CD4+ T cell response. Alternatively, it could have been due to the presence of a different replicating virus in the plasma-since we only obtained proviral sequences. Conclusion: Wild-type and mutant HIV-1 protease epitopes recognized by CD4+ T cells were identified. We also found that most patients failed to recognize their endogenous protease sequences, while they recognized variant sequences. The recognition of non-endogenous sequences could hypothetically be a consequence of targeting a minor HIV-1 population; HERV protease, that contains regions of similarity with HIV-1 protease; or HIV-1 sequences present only in viremic partners. The failure to recognize endogenous sequences is most likely due to immune escape, either at the level of presentation or direct T cell recognition. This may have a pathophysiological consequence on evasion of T cell responses against protease and the fact that it has been considered traditionally a poorly antigenic HIV-1 protein.

INTRODUÇÃO: As dermatoses bolhosas autoimunes são um grupo heterogêneo de afecções da pele e/ou mucosas associadas à produção de autoanticorpos dirigidos às moléculas de adesão epitelial. Podem ser classificadas em dermatoses bolhosas intraepidérmicas (pênfigos) ou subepidérmicas (penfigóides, epidermólise bolhosa adquirida). Nos últimos anos, a transição entre dermatoses bolhosas autoimunes ou coexistência de autoanticorpos de diferentes dermatoses têm sido relatadas em alguns pacientes e atribuída ao fenômeno de epitope spreading (ES): a diversificação de epítopos reconhecidos pelo sistema imune evocaria uma reação secundária a antígenos distintos e não relacionados aos da doença primária. Neste trabalho avaliamos a ocorrência de fenômenos de ES em pacientes portadores de pênfigo. CASUÍSTICA E MÉTODOS: Inicialmente, foi realizada análise de dados clínicos e laboratoriais (exame histopatológico, de imunofluorescência direta-IFD, indireta IFI e ELISA) de 351 pacientes portadores de pênfigos acompanhados no Ambulatório de dermatoses bolhosas autoimunes do Departamento de Dermatologia da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo no período de dezembro de 2002 a dezembro de 2012. Foram selecionados pacientes com quadro sugestivo de conversão à dermatose bolhosa distinta da doença primária. RESULTADOS: Nove pacientes apresentaram sinais sugestivos de fenômeno de ES e foram incluídos no estudo: 8 com a conversão de Pênfigo vulgar (PV) a foliáceo (PF) 2,3% (grupo1) e um de PF a Epidermólise bolhosa adquirida (EBA) 0,3% (grupo 2). No grupo 1 o intervalo mediano para a conversão foi de 3,5 anos. Cinco pacientes apresentaram modificação histopatológica de clivagem intraepidérmica na camada suprabasal para clivagem na camada subcórnea durante a suspeita de ES; 2 apresentaram clivagem na camada epidérmica média durante a transição e um manteve clivagem suprabasal, apesar de quadro clínico sugestivo de PF. Todos os pacientes apresentavam depósitos intercelulares de IgG e/ou C3 durante o diagnóstico de PV e PF à IFD. Títulos de IFI variaram de 1:160 a 1:5120. Os valores de ELISA para Dsg1 variaram de 22 a 319; e para Dsg3 de 0.4 a 224 (positivo se > 20). A relação Dsg1/Dsg3 correspondeu à mudança PV-PF. No grupo 2, o ES para EBA ocorreu sete anos após o diagnóstico de inicial de PF. No momento da suspeita de ES o paciente apresentava-se em remissão clínica do quadro de pênfigo folíaceo. A avaliação laboratorial mostrou clivagem subepidérmica neutrofílica, IFD com IgG intercelular intraepidérmica e depósitos de IgM, IgA, IgG e C3 na zona da membrana basal. IFI com técnica de salt split skin revelou depósitos de IgG do lado dérmico. Ao immunobloting houve reconhecimento de colágeno VII e ELISA para Dsg1 foi positivo. CONCLUSÃO: A frequência de ES em pacientes portadores de pênfigo foi de 2,6%. Estudos serão necessários para elucidar a patogênese deste evento e sua importância na progressão dos pênfigos / BACKGROUND: Autoimmune bullous skin diseases represent a heterogeneous group of disorders of skin and mucosa associated with autoantibodies against distinct adhesion molecules. They can be classified, based on the level of loss of adhesion in intraepidermal and sub epidermal dermatosis. The shift from an autoimmune blistering disease to another has been recently described and attributed to the \"epitope spreading\" (ES) phenomena. It occurs when a primary inflammatory/autoimmune process releases \"hidden\" epitopes which are recognized by the lymphocytes and evoke a secondary reaction to antigens distinct from, and non-cross-reactive, with the disease causing-epitope. This study attempted to characterize the occurrence of ES in pemphigus patients. METHODS: We analyzed data from 351 pemphigus patients treated ambulatorially at the Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, from December 2002 to December 2012. A careful search for clinical and laboratorial (histopathology, direct-DIF and indirect-IIF immunofluorescence, ELISA) changes suggestive of shift to a secondary bullous disease was performed. RESULTS: Nine out of 351 patients presented clínical shift and were included in the study: eight from pemphigus vulgaris (PV) to foliaceus (PF) 2.3% (group 1) and one from PF to epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA) 0.3% (group 2). In group 1, median interval of disease shift was 3.5 years. Of 8 patients with clinical PF, five showed change of histopathology pattern from suprabasilar cleavage to subcorneal acantholysis, two had cleavage within the middle epidermal layer, and one sustained the suprabasilar acantholysis. One shifted back to PV after clinical and histopatological changes of PF. All patients showed intercellular IgG and/or C3 deposits during PV and PF diagnosis by DIF. IIF titers varied from 1:160 to 1:5120. ELISA index for Dsg1 varied from 22 to 319; and for Dsg3 from 0.4 to 224 (positive if > 20). Dsg1/Dsg3 indexes corresponded to the clinical PV-PF changes. In group 2, onset of PF occurred at the age of 25, and ES to EBA 7 years later in the absence of PF lesions. Laboratory evaluation showed sub epidermal cleavage with neutrophils, IgG intercellular staining in the epidermis and IgM, IgA, IgG and C3 deposits at BMZ by DIF, IgG deposits by indirect salt-split, recognition of collagen VII by immunoblotting, and positive ELISA for Dsg1. CONCLUSIONS: Intermolecular ES occurred in 2.6% (9/351) of pemphigus patients. Futures studies will be necessary to elucidate the pathogenesis of this event and its significance in pemphigus progression

Magister Scientiae (Medical Bioscience) - MSc(MBS) / The human coronavirus NL63 was discovered in 2004 by a team of researchers in Amsterdam. Since its discovery it has been shown to have worldwide spread and affects mainly children, aged 0-5 years old, the immunocompromised and the elderly. Infection with HCoV-NL63 commonly results in mild upper respiratory tract infections and presents as the common cold, with symptoms including fever, cough, sore throat and rhinorrhoea. Lower respiratory tract findings are less common but may develop into more serious complications including bronchiolitis, pneumonia and croup. The primary function of the HCoV-NL63 nucleocapsid (N) protein is the formation of theprotective ribonucleocapsid core. For this particle to assemble, the N-protein undergoes N-N dimerization and then interacts with viral RNA. Besides the primary structural role of the Nprotein, it is also understood to be involved in viral RNA transcription, translation and replication, including several other physiological functions. The N-protein is also highly antigenic and elicits a strong immune response in infected patients. For this reason the N-protein may serve as a target for the development of diagnostic assays. We have used bioinformatic analysis to analyze the HCoV-NL63 N-protein and compared it to coronavirus N-homologues. This bioinformatic analysis provided the data to generate recombinant clones for expression in a bacterial system. We constructed recombinant clones of the N-protein of SARS-CoV and HCoV-NL63 and synthesized truncated clones corresponding to the N- and C-terminal of the HCoV-NL63 N-protein. These heterologously expressed proteins will serve the basis for several post-expression studies including characterizing the immunogenic epitope of the N-protein as well identifying any antibody crossreactivity between coronavirus species. / South Africa

MSc (Microbiology) / Department of Microbiology / See the attached abstract below

Detection of alloreactive anti-HLA antibodies is a frequent and mandatory test before and after organ transplantation to determine the antigenic targets of the antibodies. Nowadays, this test involves the measurement of fluorescent signals generated through antibody–antigen reactions on multi-beads flow cytometers. In this study, in a cohort of 1,066 patients from one country, anti-HLA class I responses were analyzed on a panel of 98 different antigens. Knowing that the immune system responds typically to “shared” antigenic targets, we studied the clustering patterns of antibody responses against HLA class I antigens without any a priori hypothesis, applying two unsupervised machine learning approaches. At first, the principal component analysis (PCA) projections of intralocus specific responses showed that anti-HLA-A and anti-HLA-C were the most distantly projected responses in the population with the anti-HLA-B responses to be projected between them. When PCA was applied on the responses against antigens belonging to a single locus, some already known groupings were confirmed while several new crossreactive patterns of alloreactivity were detected. Anti-HLA-A responses projected through PCA suggested that three cross-reactive groups accounted for about 70% of the variance observed in the population, while anti-HLA-B responses were mainly characterized by a distinction between previously described Bw4 and Bw6 cross-reactive groups followed by several yet undocumented or poorly described ones. Furthermore, anti-HLA-C responses could be explained by two major cross-reactive groups completely overlapping with previously described C1 and C2 allelic groups. A second featurebased analysis of all antigenic specificities, projected as a dendrogram, generated a robust measure of allelic antigenic distances depicting bead-array defined cross reactive groups. Finally, amino acid combinations explaining major population specific crossreactive groups were described. The interpretation of the results was based on the current knowledge of the antigenic targets of the antibodies as they have been characterized either experimentally or computationally and appear at the HLA epitope registry.