RESUMEN

Reverse immunology has been used for about 12 years in order to identify T-cell epitopes from pathogens or tumor-associated antigens. In this chapter, we discuss the advantages and pitfalls of T-cell epitope prediction compared to classical experimental procedures such as epitope mapping and cloning experiments. We introduce our three established programs, SYFPEITHI, PAProc, and SNEP, which are freely accessible at no cost in the World Wide Web for the prediction of either HLA-peptide binding or proteasomal processing of antigens. We demonstrate the performance of our epitope prediction programs with several examples and in comparison to other epitope prediction programs available. We also reflect the actual possibilities and limitations of such computer-aided work.

Asunto(s)

Bases de Datos Genéticas , Epítopos de Linfocito T/genética , Inmunogenética/estadística & datos numéricos , Algoritmos , Secuencia de Aminoácidos , Antígenos Virales/genética , Clonación Molecular , Biología Computacional , Citomegalovirus/genética , Citomegalovirus/inmunología , Mapeo Epitopo/estadística & datos numéricos , Humanos , Internet , Antígenos de Histocompatibilidad Menor/genética , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Fosfoproteínas/genética , Fosfoproteínas/inmunología , Fosfoproteínas/metabolismo , Procesamiento Proteico-Postraduccional , Programas Informáticos , Proteínas de la Matriz Viral/genética , Proteínas de la Matriz Viral/inmunología , Proteínas de la Matriz Viral/metabolismo