A mutagenesis study of autoantigen optimization for potential T1D vaccine design

Yi Song, David R. Bell, Rizwan Ahmed, Kevin C. Chan, Sangyun Lee, Abdel Rahim A. Hamad*, Ruhong Zhou*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A previously reported autoreactive antigen, termed the X-idiotype, isolated from a unique cell population in Type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients, was found to stimulate their CD4+ T cells. This antigen was previously determined to bind more favorably than insulin and its mimic (insulin superagonist) to HLA-DQ8, supporting its strong role in CD4+ T cell activation. In this work, we probed HLA-X-idiotype-TCR binding and designed enhanced-reactive pHLA-TCR antigens using an in silico mutagenesis approach which we functionally validated by cell proliferation assays and flow cytometry. From a combination of single, double, and swap mutations, we identified antigen-binding sites p4 and p6 as potential mutation sites for HLA binding affinity enhancement. Site p6 is revealed to favor smaller but more hydrophobic residues than the native tyrosine, such as valine (Y6V) and isoleucine (Y6I), indicating a steric mechanism in binding affinity improvement. Meanwhile, site p4 methionine mutation to hydrophobic residues isoleucine (M4I) or leucine (M4L) modestly increases HLA binding affinity. Select p6 mutations to cysteine (Y6C) or isoleucine (Y6I) exhibit favorable TCR binding affinities, while a swap p5-p6 tyrosine-valine double mutant (V5Y_Y6V) and a p6-p7 glutamine-glutamine double mutant (Y6Q_Y7Q) exhibit enhanced HLA binding affinity but weakened TCR affinity. This work holds relevance to potential T1D antigen-based vaccine design and optimization.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2214430120
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume120
Issue number16
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 Apr 2023
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • autoantigen design
  • free energy perturbation
  • molecular dynamics
  • mutagenesis
  • type 1 diabetes

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