Biomarkers, Clinical Relevance

Abstract

Definition A B cell epitope is the region of the antigen recognized by soluble or membrane-bound antibodies. B cell epitopes are classified as either linear or discontinuous epitopes. Synonyms Antigen-antibody binding site prediction; Antigen-antibody interface residue prediction; Computational methods for mapping B cell epitopes Definition B cell epitopes, also known as antigenic determinants, are restricted parts of molecules that are recognized by immunoglobulin molecules (antibodies) either in their free form or as membrane-bound B cell receptors. B cell epitopes typically belong to one of two classes: linear (continuous or sequential) epitopes or confor-mational (discontinuous) epitopes. Linear epitopes are short peptides that correspond to a contiguous amino acid sequence fragment of a protein. Linear epitopes are usually identified using assays such as PEPSCAN. Consequently, current experimental methods offer W. Dubitzky et al. (eds.),