Are cases of mumps in vaccinated patients attributable to mismatches in both vaccine T-cell and B-cell epitopes?: An immunoinformatic analysis

Resurgent mumps outbreaks have raised questions about the current efficacy of mumps vaccines. We have applied immunoinformatics techniques based on principal component analysis to evaluate patterns in predicted B-cell linear epitopes, MHC binding affinity and cathepsin cleavage in the hemagglutinin neuraminidase protein of vaccine strains and wild-type mumps isolates. We have mapped predicted MHC-peptide binding for 37 MHC-I and 28 MHC-II alleles and predicted cleavage by cathepsin B, L and S. By all measures we applied Jeryl-Lynn JL5 major strain is an outlier with immunomic features arising from a small number of amino acid changes that distinguish it from other virus strains. Individuals vaccinated with Jeryl-Lynn who are not exposed to wild-type virus until their protective antibody titer has waned may be unable to recall a protective immune response when exposed to wild-type virus. Dependence on serology to evaluate mumps vaccines may have overemphasized the conservation of one neutralizing antibody epitope, at the expense of monitoring other related changes in the HN protein that could affect recall responses.