Design and evaluation of a multi-epitope peptide against Japanese encephalitis virus infection in BALB/c mice.

Epitope-based vaccination is a promising means to achieve protective immunity and to avoid immunopathology in Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection. Several B-cell and T-cell epitopes have been mapped to the E protein of JEV, and they are responsible for the elicitation of the neutralizing antibodies and CTLs that impart protective immunity to the host. In the present study, we optimized a proposed multi-epitope peptide (MEP) using an epitope-based vaccine strategy, which combined six B-cell epitopes (amino acid residues 75-92, 149-163, 258-285, 356-362, 373-399 and 397-403) and two T-cell epitopes (amino acid residues 60-68 and 436-445) from the E protein of JEV. This recombinant protein was expressed in Escherichia coli, named rMEP, and its protective efficacy against JEV infection was assessed in BALB/c mice. The results showed that rMEP was highly immunogenic and could elicit high titer neutralizing antibodies and cell-mediated immune responses. It provided complete protection against lethal challenge with JEV in mice. Our findings indicate that the multi-epitope vaccine rMEP may be an attractive candidate vaccine for the prevention of JEV infection.

[Effect of moxibustion at "Shenque" (CV8) and "Zusanli" (ST36) on expression of adiponectin and adiponectin receptor in Alzheimer's disease rats].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of moxibustion on serum adiponectin content, and expression of adiponectin and adiponectin receptor in adipose tissue in Alzheimer's disease (AD) rats, so as to explore its mechanism underlying improvement of AD. METHODS: Fifty male SD rats were randomly divided into control, model, Shenque (CV8), Zusanli (ST36) and CV8＋ST36 groups (n＝10 in each group). The AD model was established by intraperitoneal injection of D-galactose (400 mg•kg－1•d－1) for 5 weeks and scopolamine hydrobromide (3 mg •kg－1•d－1) for 2 weeks. Moxibustion was applied to CV8, ST36 and CV8＋ST36 respectively for 3 moxa-cones every time, once daily for 5 weeks. Morris water maze tests were used to assess the rats' learning-memory ability. The contents of serum adiponectin were assayed using ELISA, and the expression of adiponectin and adiponectin receptor in the adipose tissue was detected by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot, separately. RESULTS: Following modeling, the average escape latency of Morris water maze tests was significantly prolonged (P<0.05), the content of serum adiponectin and the expression level of adiponectin mRNA in adipose tissue were significantly decreased (P<0.01), the expression of adiponectin receptor protein significantly decreased in the model group relevant to the control group (P<0.01). After the intervention, the average escape latency was significantly shortened (P<0.05), the decreased serum adiponectin content and adiponectin mRNA expression, and the decreased adiponectin receptor protein expression in adipose tissue were all reversed in the 3 treatment groups (P<0.01，P<0.05). No significant differences were found among the three moxibustion groups in the above indexes (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Moxibustion at CV8, ST36 and CV8＋ST36 is effective in up-regulating serum adiponectin content，adiponectin mRNA expression and adiponectin receptor protein expression in adipose tissue, which may provide evidence for clinical election of acupoints.