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. 2020 Aug;7(2):51-63.
doi: 10.1055/s-0040-1715641. Epub 2020 Aug 31.

From Anti-EBV Immune Responses to the EBV Diseasome via Cross-reactivity

Darja Kanduc  1 , Yehuda Shoenfeld  2   3
Affiliations

From Anti-EBV Immune Responses to the EBV Diseasome via Cross-reactivity

Darja Kanduc et al. Glob Med Genet. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

Sequence analyses highlight a massive peptide sharing between immunoreactive Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) epitopes and human proteins that-when mutated, deficient or improperly functioning-associate with tumorigenesis, diabetes, lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and immunodeficiencies, among others. Peptide commonality appears to be the molecular platform capable of linking EBV infection to the vast EBV-associated diseasome via cross-reactivity and questions the hypothesis of the "negative selection" of self-reactive lymphocytes. Of utmost importance, this study warns that using entire antigens in anti-EBV immunotherapies can associate with autoimmune manifestations and further supports the concept of peptide uniqueness for designing safe and effective anti-EBV immunotherapies.

Keywords: EBV epitopes; autoimmunity; cross-reactivity; negative selection; pathogenic autoantibodies; self-reactive lymphocytes; systemic lupus erythematosus.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest D.K. declares no conflicts. Y.S. is a medical consultant in vaccine compensation court, United States.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Distribution of EBV epitope-derived peptides throughout WASP primary aa sequence. WASP sequence from Uniprot ( http://www.uniprot.org/) . EBV epitope-derived peptides are underlined and bold marked. EBV, Epstein-Barr virus; WASP, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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