[In Silico analysis of molecular mimic between Der p 23 against allergenic sources].

OBJECTIVE: To identify through In Silico analysis the possible molecular mimicry between Der p 23 and antigens from allergenic sources.

METHODS: Identity was sought between Der p 23 and proteins from the mite families Pyroglyphidae, Acaridae, Chortoglyphidae and Echimyopodidae, through PSI-BLAST and They used PRALINE and EMBOSS for the alignments. Antigens with resolved experimental structure were obtained from Protein Data Bank and those not reported were generated using Swiss Model server and ALPHAFOLD 2. Epitope prediction was carried out with the Ellipro server and Pymol 2.3 was used to visualize the 3D models.

RESULTS: The analysis between Pyroglyphidae allergens and Der p 23 showed identity with the endochitinase-like protein of D. pteronyssinus, and the type 2 chitin binding domain of D. farinae, with identities between 85 and 100%, with coverage of 100%, and 75% respectively. The allergens Der f 23 and Der p 23 of D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus had 100% coverage with identities of 85.42% and 79.59%, respectively. Among the allergens of Tyrophagus putrescentiae, binding to chitin, oviduct-specific glycoprotein and Cda4p were included, which had identity values corresponding to 40%, 42.22% and 34.78%, with coverage values that did not exceed the 55%. No results were found for Chortoglyphidae and Echimyopodidae.

CONCLUSION: There is molecular mimicry and structural homology between Der P 23 and allergens from allergic sources of the Pyroglyphidae and Acaridae families. Potential epitopes were identified in Der p 23, which could present cross-reactivity with the proteins of the allergenic sources studied, which must be demonstrated in In vitro and In vivo studies. In vitro and in vivo work is needed to demonstrate the results obtained in the In Silico analysis.