Static energy analysis of MHC class I and class II peptide-binding affinity

Methods Mol Biol. 2007:409:309-20. doi: 10.1007/978-1-60327-118-9_23.

Abstract

Antigenic peptide is presented to a T-cell receptor (TCR) through the formation of a stable complex with a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule. Various predictive algorithms have been developed to estimate a peptide's capacity to form a stable complex with a given MHC class II allele, a technique integral to the strategy of vaccine design. These have previously incorporated such computational techniques as quantitative matrices and neural networks. A novel predictive technique is described, which uses molecular modeling of predetermined crystal structures to estimate the stability of an MHC class II-peptide complex. The structures are remodeled, energy minimized, and annealed before the energetic interaction is calculated.

MeSH terms

  • Computational Biology
  • Computer Simulation
  • Databases, Protein
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / chemistry*
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / metabolism*
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / chemistry*
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Immunogenetics
  • Major Histocompatibility Complex
  • Peptides / chemistry
  • Peptides / immunology
  • Peptides / metabolism
  • Protein Binding
  • Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Software
  • Thermodynamics

Substances

  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class I
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class II
  • Peptides