Computer-Aided Vaccine Design

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Computational B cell vaccine design

Abstract:

The ability to predict B cell epitopes accurately remains an unsolved problem in computational immunology. One of the biggest challenges is the lack of standards in defining B cell epitopes, which has a direct impact on the selection and development of appropriate tools for analysis. Most B cell epitopes vary from five to more than 20 amino acids in length. About 90% of B cell epitopes are non-contiguous in nature. Some of the amino acids are in contact with the immunoglobulin, while others may be located far from the protein surface. Some amino acid residues are essential for binding the immunoglobulin, while others may not be functionally important. Due to these inherent complexities, development ...