B CELL EPITOPE DISCOVERY AND MECHANISMS OF ANTIBODY PROTECTION.

该合同支持识别来自四种病毒病原体的人类B细胞表位：登革病毒4、鲍瓦桑病毒、基孔肯雅病毒和委内瑞拉马脑炎病毒，并结合基础研究了解抗体介导的保护性免疫以及抗体反应的病理后果。里程碑包括1)表位识别；2)表位验证，必须包括使用人类样本进行体外评估；3)向免疫表位数据库和分析资源提交表位数据、计算机软件和结构数据；以及4)帮助理解与新识别的表位相关的抗体所引发的保护或致病机制的研究。该合同的主要目标是描绘由有效的中和或保护性抗体识别的B细胞表位，并评估保护的相关性，以帮助开发针对选定节肢动物传播病毒的疫苗和治疗方法。承包商选择了两种黄病毒(登革病毒4和鲍瓦桑病毒)和两种甲型病毒(基孔肯雅病毒和委内瑞拉马脑炎)作为对病毒糖蛋白抗原的抗体反应的初步调查。承包商还将评估识别西尼罗河病毒和寨卡病毒产生的黄病毒非结构蛋白1(NS1)的保护性抗体。

This contract supports the identification of human B cell epitopes derived from four viral pathogens; Dengue virus 4, Powassan virus, Chikungunya virus, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, combined with basic studies to understand protective immunity mediated by antibodies, as well as pathological consequences of antibody responses. Milestones include 1) epitope identification; 2) epitope validation that must include in vitro evaluation using human samples; 3) submission of epitope data, computer software, and structural data to the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource; and 4) studies to help understand the mechanisms of protection or pathogenesis elicited by antibodies associated with the newly identified epitopes. The primary goal of this contract is the delineation of B cell epitopes recognized by potently neutralizing or protective antibodies and evaluation of correlates of protection that can aid in the development of vaccines and therapeutics against select arthropod-transmitted viruses. The Contractor has chosen two flaviviruses (Dengue virus 4 and Powassan virus) and two alphaviruses (Chikungunya virus and Venezuelan equine encephalitis) for primary investigation of antibody responses to viral glycoprotein antigens. The Contractor will also evaluate protective antibodies that recognize the flavivirus nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) produced by West Nile and Zika viruses.