Insights into functional amino acids of ULBP2 as potential immunogens against cancer

The ability of Natural Killer (NK) cells to eliminate cancerous cells is largely dependant on the activation of the stimulatory or co-stimulatory natural killer group 2, member D (NKG2D) receptor. This receptor recognises ligands that are structural homologs of MHC class I molecules such as the UL-16 binding protein 2 (ULBP2). ULBP2 has been reported to have the ability to mediate natural resistance against tumours in vivo, thus promoting its use as a potential target for developing immunotherapeutic agents for the treatment of cancers and some viral infections. In this study, we generated a reliable and quality 3-D structure of the protein using SWISS-MODEL. Furthermore, the ULBP2 was forecasted to be antigenic in nature and possesses six linear B-cell epitopes and 11 discontinuous B-cell epitopes. The protein contains seven cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and two helper T lymphocytes (HTLs). Overall, potential epitopes that might be effective to produce the B-cell and T-cell mediated immunity towards the needed immune response to tumour growth was predicted.