In-silico identification of linear B-cell epitopes in specific proteins of Bartonella bacilliformis for the serological diagnosis of Carrion’s disease

Abstract

Carrion´s disease is caused by Bartonella bacilliformis, it is a Gram-negative pleomorphic bacterium. B. bacilliformis is transmitted by Lutzomyia verrucarum in endemic areas of the Peruvian Inter-Andean valleys. Additionally, the pathogenicity of B. bacilliformis involves an initial infection of erythrocytes and the further infection of endothelial cells, which mainly affects children and expectant women from extreme poverty rural areas. Therefore, the implementation of serological diagnostic methods and the development of candidate vaccines for the control of CD could be facilitated by the prediction of linear b-cell epitopes in specific proteins of B. bacilliformis by bioinformatics analysis. In this study, We used an in-silico analysis employing six web servers for the identification of epitopes in proteins of B. bacilliformis. The selection of B. bacilliformis-specific proteins and their analysis to identify epitopes allowed the selection of seven protein candidates that are expected to have high antigenic activity. Carrion´s disease (CD) affects poor communities from the Andean region in South America, where lethal cases have been reported and associated with hemolytic anemia. Therefore, early-stage diagnosis is relevant to treat the early stage of infection, the diagnostic alternatives include serological tests or molecular assays. The serological assays are wildly used because of their low cost and easy application, hence the improvement of the sensitivity and specificity of the serological assays provides better accuracy for the diagnosis CD. In this study, we look for the prediction of specific proteins to B. bacilliformis, the causative agent of CD, and the identification of lineal B-epitopes by in-silico analysis. Using a six-web server, we identified linear epitopes in seven specific proteins which are expected to have antigenic activity.