In silico prediction of B-cell epitopes for twenty-five mite allergens: The therapeutic potentials for immunotherapy

Abstract

Mite allergens are one of the major allergens; however, their structures and epitopes have not been thoroughly studied. In the present study, we predicted the tertiary structures of several mite allergens and also identified the B-cell epitopes, which can be suggested as potential epitopes for allergen immunotherapy. Twenty-five mite allergens, from six mite allergen groups, were investigated; homology modeling and structure refinement were performed for seventeen allergens with unknown structures. Furthermore, various servers were employed to predict linear and conformational B-cell epitopes and consensus B-cell epitopes were identified (172 linear and 64 conformational epitopes). Conservation and epitope identity were also determined among the allergens of the same group and some conserved epitopes were identified. Some regions of the predicted epitopes were identified as novel epitope regions. The predicted consensus epitopes can be applied as suitable candidates to design immunotherapeutic vaccines.

Keywords: Allergen; B-cell epitope; House dust mite; Immunotherapy; In silico prediction; Storage mite.