Journal of Bioterrorism & Biodefense
Open Access

Research Article

Protective Immunodominant Zaire Ebolavirus Glycoprotein Epitope in Mice

Xiangguo Qiu¹, Lisa Fernando¹, Steven M. Jones^1,2,3,4 and Judie B. Alimonti^1,2*

¹Special Pathogens Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, 1015 Arlington St. Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 3R2, Canada

²Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 3R2, Canada

³Department of Immunology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 3R2, Canada

⁴Cognoveritas Consulting Inc. A-137 Westchester Dr., Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3P 2G6 Canada

*Corresponding Author:

Judie Alimonti
Special Pathogens Program, National Microbiology Laboratory
Public Health Agency of Canada, 1015 Arlington St.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 3R2
Tel: 204-784-5998 or 789-5097
Fax: 204- 789-2140
E-mail: judie.alimonti@phac-aspc.gc.ca

Received Date: August 26, 2011; Accepted Date: October 18, 2011; Published Date: October 20, 2011

Citation: Qiu X, Fernando L, Jones SM, Alimonti JB (2011) Protective Immunodominant Zaire Ebolavirus Glycoprotein Epitope in Mice. J Bioterr Biodef S1:006. doi: 10.4172/2157-2526.S1-006

Copyright: © 2011 Qiu X, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Zaire Ebolavirus (ZEBOV) causes a highly lethal severe haemorrhagic fever in humans, for which there is currently no approved vaccine available. In this study, cytokine ELISPOT assays were used to determine the ZEBOVGP-specific cytokine profile and immunodominant T cell epitopes in VSV?G/ZEBOVGP immunized Balb/C mice. Splenocytes added to pools of overlapping peptides spanning ZEBOVGP stimulated a Th1 cytokine profile with the majority of the ZEBOVGP-specific splenocytes secreting IFN-g. The splenocytes produced the strongest IFN-g response to the immunodominant peptide HNTPVYKLDISEATQ, located in the cytopathic mucin domain of GP. The immunodominant epitope was then tested for its ability to induce a protective immune response in mice challenged with a lethal dose of mouse adapted-ZEBOV. Mice immunized with the peptide plus Freund’s adjuvant survived the challenge, and had a strong ZEBOVGP-specific T and B cell immune response. Identifying the ZEBOVGP-specific cytokine profile and immunodominant epitope will aid in determining the correlates of immune protection; allow for the development of assays to assess the efficacy of the VSV?G/ZEBOVGP vaccine in immunized individuals; and provide valuable information for the development of a subunit vaccine.

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