Vanniasinkam T, Barton M D, Heuzenroeder M W
School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
J Clin Microbiol. 2001 Apr;39(4):1633-7. doi: 10.1128/JCM.39.4.1633-1637.2001.
Linear B-cell epitopes of the Rhodococcus equi virulence-associated protein (VapA) were mapped using a synthetic peptide bank in this study. The peptides were screened in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with a total of 70 sera from foals with current R. equi disease (51 sera), as well as from foals that had either recovered from R. equi infection 10 months previously (3 sera) or that had no known history of R. equi disease (16 sera). An epitope with the sequence NLQKDEPNGRA was identified and was universally recognized by all 51 sera from foals with R. equi disease and was not recognized by any of the other sera. There was poor reactivity between all sera and peptides relating to other areas of the VapA protein. It is proposed that an ELISA based upon a defined peptide epitope may be used in an improved serological diagnostic test for R. equi infection in foals.
在本研究中，利用合成肽库对马红球菌毒力相关蛋白（VapA）的线性B细胞表位进行了定位。这些肽在酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）中进行筛选，使用了总共70份血清，其中包括来自患有当前马红球菌病的幼驹的51份血清，以及10个月前从马红球菌感染中康复的幼驹的3份血清或无马红球菌病已知病史的幼驹的16份血清。鉴定出一个序列为NLQKDEPNGRA的表位，患有马红球菌病的幼驹的所有51份血清均能普遍识别该表位，而其他血清均未识别。所有血清与VapA蛋白其他区域相关的肽之间反应性较差。有人提出，基于确定的肽表位的ELISA可用于改进对幼驹马红球菌感染的血清学诊断测试。
