Peptide sharing between Bordetella pertussis proteome and human sudden death proteins: a hypothesis for a causal link

Lack of Molecular Mimicry between Nonhuman Primates and Infectious Pathogens: The Possible Genetic Bases

Recently, it was found that proteomes from poliovirus, measles virus, dengue virus, and severe acute respiratory syndrome-related Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have high molecular mimicry at the heptapeptide level with the human proteome, while heptapeptide commonality is minimal or absent with proteomes from nonhuman primates, that is, gorilla, chimpanzee, and rhesus macaque. To acquire more data on the issue, analyses here have been expanded to Ebola virus, Francisella tularensis , human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1), Toxoplasma gondii , Variola virus, and Yersinia pestis . Results confirm that heptapeptide overlap is high between pathogens and Homo sapiens , but not between pathogens and primates. Data are discussed in light of the possible genetic bases that differently model primate phenomes, thus possibly underlying the zero/low level of molecular mimicry between infectious agents and primates. Notably, this study might help address preclinical vaccine tests that currently utilize primates as animal models, since autoimmune cross-reactions and the consequent adverse events cannot occur in absentia of shared sequences.

Influenza and sudden unexpected death: the possible role of peptide cross-reactivity

This study investigates the hypothesis that cross-reactions may occur between human cardiac proteins and influenza antigens, thus possibly representing the molecular mechanism underlying influenzaassociated sudden unexpected death (SUD). Using titin protein as a research model, data were obtained on (1) the occurrence of the titin octapeptide AELLVLLE or its mimic AELLVALE in influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) sequences; (2) the immunological potential of AELLVLLE and its mimic AELLVALE; (3) the possible role of the flanking amino acid aa) context of the two octapeptide determinants in eliciting cross-reactivity between the human cardiac titin protein and HA antigens.