Synthesis and structural insight into ESX-1 Substrate Protein C, an immunodominant Mycobacterium tuberculosis-secreted antigen.

Tuberculosis, the second leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, is recognized as a major threat to human health due to a lack of practicable vaccines against the disease and the widespread occurrence of drug resistance. With a pressing need for a novel protein target as a platform for new vaccine development, ESX-1 Substrate Protein C (EspC) was recently identified as a novel Mycobacterium tuberculosis-secreted antigen that is as immunodominant as the two specific immunodiagnostic T-cell antigens, CFP-10 and ESAT-6. Here, we present the first chemical total synthesis, folding conditions, and circular dichroism data of EspC. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Pept Sci) 106: 267-274, 2016.
(© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)