{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T05:00:31Z","timestamp":1787029231941,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":108,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,28]],"date-time":"2021-09-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1632787200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002322","name":"Coordena\u00e7\u00e3o de Aperfei\u00e7oamento de Pessoal de N\u00edvel Superior","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["001"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002322","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Fiocruz - InovaFiocruz","award":["VPPCB-008-FIO-18"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["VPPCB-008-FIO-18"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004586","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo \u00e0 Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["E-26\/202.575\/2019"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["E-26\/202.575\/2019"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004586","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003593","name":"Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient\u00edfico e Tecnol\u00f3gico","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["303024\/2019-4"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["303024\/2019-4"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003593","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pathogens"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Coxiella burnetii is a global, highly infectious intracellular bacterium, able to infect a wide range of hosts and to persist for months in the environment. It is the etiological agent of Q fever\u2014a zoonosis of global priority. Currently, there are no national surveillance data on C. burnetii\u2019s seroprevalence for any South American country, reinforcing the necessity of developing novel and inexpensive serological tools to monitor the prevalence of infections among humans and animals\u2014especially cattle, goats, and sheep. In this study, we used immunoinformatics and computational biology tools to predict specific linear B-cell epitopes in three C. burnetii outer membrane proteins: OMP-H (CBU_0612), Com-1 (CBU_1910), and OMP-P1 (CBU_0311). Furthermore, predicted epitopes were tested by ELISA, as synthetic peptides, against samples of patients reactive to C. burnetii in indirect immunofluorescence assay, in order to evaluate their natural immunogenicity. In this way, two linear B-cell epitopes were identified in each studied protein (OMP-H(51\u201359), OMP-H(91\u2013106), Com-1(57\u201376), Com-1(191\u2013206), OMP-P1(197\u2013209), and OMP-P1(215\u2013227)); all of them were confirmed as naturally immunogenic by the presence of specific antibodies in 77% of studied patients against at least one of the identified epitopes. Remarkably, a higher frequency of endocarditis cases was observed among patients who presented an intense humoral response to OMP-H and Com-1 epitopes. These data confirm that immunoinformatics applied to the identification of specific B-cell epitopes can be an effective strategy to improve and accelerate the development of surveillance tools against neglected diseases.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens10101250","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,28]],"date-time":"2021-09-28T21:38:09Z","timestamp":1632865089000},"page":"1250","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Identification of Immunogenic Linear B-Cell Epitopes in C. burnetii Outer Membrane Proteins Using Immunoinformatics Approaches Reveals Potential Targets of Persistent Infections"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"S\u00edlvia da Silva","family":"Fontes","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Monoclonal Antibodies Technology, Immunobiological Technology Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fernanda de Moraes","family":"Maia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Monoclonal Antibodies Technology, Immunobiological Technology Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Laura Santa\u2019Anna","family":"Ataides","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Monoclonal Antibodies Technology, Immunobiological Technology Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1754-5870","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fernando Paiva","family":"Conte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pilot Plant Implantation Project, Immunobiological Technology Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5848-404X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Josu\u00e9 da Costa","family":"Lima-Junior","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Immunoparasitology, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tatiana","family":"Rozental","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Hantaviroses and Rickettsioses, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matheus Ribeiro","family":"da Silva Assis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Hantaviroses and Rickettsioses, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adonai Alvino Pessoa","family":"J\u00fanior","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Hantaviroses and Rickettsioses, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5039-0604","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorlan","family":"Fernandes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Hantaviroses and Rickettsioses, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elba Regina Sampaio","family":"de Lemos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Hantaviroses and Rickettsioses, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9772-849X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rodrigo Nunes","family":"Rodrigues-da-Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Monoclonal Antibodies Technology, Immunobiological Technology Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"115","DOI":"10.1128\/CMR.00045-16","article-title":"From Q fever to Coxiella burnetii infection: A paradigm change","volume":"30","author":"Eldin","year":"2017","journal-title":"Clin. 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