Microbiology and Virology Unit, 'Vita-Salute San Raffaele' University, 20132 Milan, Italy.
Drug Discov Today. 2013 May;18(9-10):464-71. doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2012.11.006. Epub 2012 Nov 21.
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have been used successfully both in research and for clinical purposes. The possible use of protective mAbs directed against different microbial pathogens is currently being considered. The fine definition of the epitope recognized by a protective mAb is an important aspect to be considered for possible development in epitope-based vaccinology. The most accurate approach to this is the X-ray resolution of mAb/antigen crystal complex. Unfortunately, this approach is not always feasible. Under this perspective, several surrogate epitope mapping strategies based on the use of bioinformatics have been developed. In this article, we review the most common, freely accessible, bioinformatic tools used for epitope characterization and provide some basic examples of molecular visualization, editing and computational analysis.
单克隆抗体 (mAbs) 已成功应用于研究和临床用途。目前正在考虑使用针对不同微生物病原体的保护性 mAbs。精细定义保护性 mAb 识别的表位是基于表位疫苗学开发的一个重要方面。最准确的方法是使用 X 射线解析 mAb/抗原晶体复合物。不幸的是，这种方法并不总是可行的。在这种情况下，已经开发了几种基于生物信息学的替代表位映射策略。本文综述了最常用的、免费的、用于表位分析的生物信息学工具，并提供了一些分子可视化、编辑和计算分析的基本示例。
