Characterization of the Burkholderia cenocepacia J2315 Surface-Exposed Immunoproteome
Sílvia A. Sousa, António M. M. Seixas, Manoj Mandal, Manuel J. Rodríguez‐Ortega, Jorge H. Leitão
Abstract
complex (Bcc) remain seriously life threatening to cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, and no effective eradication is available. A vaccine to protect patients against Bcc infections is a highly attractive therapeutic option, but none is available. A strategy combining the bioinformatics identification of putative surface-exposed proteins with an experimental approach encompassing the "shaving" of surface-exposed proteins with trypsin followed by peptide identification by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry is here reported. The methodology allowed the bioinformatics identification of 263 potentially surface-exposed proteins, 16 of them also experimentally identified by the "shaving" approach. Of the proteins identified, 143 have a high probability of containing B-cell epitopes that are surface-exposed. The immunogenicity of three of these proteins was demonstrated using serum samples from Bcc-infected CF patients and Western blotting, validating the usefulness of this methodology in identifying potentially immunogenic surface-exposed proteins that might be used for the development of Bcc-protective vaccines.