2026-10-13T04:08:40Z
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oai:figshare.com:article/34026907
2026-09-29T17:38:37Z
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<p>Supporting results.</p>
Pavlina Laskova (25138447)
Stanislava Porkertova (25138450)
Ondrej Ballek (11568544)
Lucie Balonova (1392496)
Jana Pavloskova (25138453)
Ales Neuwirth (13913055)
Ivona Pavkova (2339947)
Ivo Fabrik (1849519)
Pavol Lukac (25138456)
Luca Vannucci (14358999)
Dominik Filipp (1849615)
Jiri Stulik (151536)
Marek Link (151527)
Biochemistry
Medicine
Microbiology
Cell Biology
Immunology
Cancer
Infectious Diseases
sup >+</ sup
severe pneumonic form
induced immune responses
identified 57 mhc
div >< p
immunopeptidomics reveals conserved
protective immune response
peptide vaccine containing
fully virulent strains
ensure complete protection
cells following immunization
francisella tularensis </
tularensis </
using immunopeptidomics
based immunopeptidomics
vaccination studies
subsequent screening
significant role
potential role
least 80
ii peptides
human tularemia
highly expressed
fsc200 strain
five epitopes
epitopes proved
early control
dominant epitopes
characterizing antigen
cells playing
cell epitopes
bacterial proteome
23 different
<div><p>Human tularemia is caused by infection with the intracellular bacterium <i>Francisella tularensis</i>. The ability of the bacterium to cause a severe pneumonic form of the disease has led to concerns in the field of biodefense and efforts to develop a vaccine. <i>F. tularensis</i> LVS provides partial protection against fully virulent strains, with CD4<sup>+</sup> T cells playing a significant role in this protection, however the recognized bacterial antigens remain largely unknown. To identify these antigens, we screened MHC class II peptides presented by infected dendritic cells using mass spectrometry-based immunopeptidomics. We identified 57 MHC-II peptides from 23 different <i>F. tularensis</i> LVS proteins. Most of these proteins were highly expressed in the bacterial proteome. Subsequent screening for IFN-γ responses identified ten peptides as immunogenic epitopes of CD4<sup>+</sup> T cells following immunization of mice with <i>F. tularensis</i> LVS, thereby revealing previously unknown specificity and breadth of the induced immune responses. Five epitopes, derived from the antigens FTL_1678, DacD, DnaK, FTL_1498, and MinD, represented the dominant epitopes that elicited a response in at least 80% of immunizations. Finally, a peptide vaccine containing these epitopes proved to be immunogenic in mice and contributed to the early control of bacterial replication following challenge with the virulent <i>F. tularensis</i> FSC200 strain, although this alone was insufficient to ensure complete protection. Using immunopeptidomics, we have thus identified several immunogenic CD4<sup>+</sup> T cell epitopes and antigens of <i>F. tularensis</i> LVS. Beyond their potential role in the protective immune response, the identified epitopes may also enable the development of tools for characterizing antigen-specific CD4<sup>+</sup> T cells in vaccination studies or T cell biology research.</p></div>
2026-09-29T17:54:09Z
Text
Journal contribution
10.1371/journal.ppat.1014597.s002
https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/_p_Supporting_results_p_/34026907
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