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Guo Z, Ren H, Chang Q, Liu R, Zhou X, Xue K, Sun T, Luo J, Wang F, Ge J. Lactobacilli-derived adjuvants combined with immunoinformatics-driven multi-epitope antigens based approach protects against Clostridium perfringens in a mouse model. Int J Biol Macromol 2024; 267:131475. [PMID: 38608984 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.131475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Revised: 03/28/2024] [Accepted: 04/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/14/2024]
Abstract
Clostridium perfringens is ubiquitously distributed and capable of secreting toxins, posing a significant threat to animal health. Infections caused by Clostridium perfringens, such as Necrotic Enteritis (NE), result in substantial economic losses to the livestock industry annually. However, there is no effective commercial vaccine available. Hence, we set out to propose an effective approach for multi-epitope subunit vaccine construction utilizing biomolecules. We utilized immunoinformatics to design a novel multi-epitope antigen against C. perfringens (CPMEA). Furthermore, we innovated novel bacterium-like particles (BLPs) through thermal acid treatment of various Lactobacillus strains and selected BLP23017 among them. Then, we detailed the structure of CPMEA and BLPs and utilized them to prepare a multi-epitope vaccine. Here, we showed that our vaccine provided full protection against C. perfringens infection after a single dose in a mouse model. Additionally, BLP23017 notably augmented the secretion of secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) and enhanced antibody production. We conclude that our vaccine possess safety and high efficacy, making it an excellent candidate for preventing C. perfringens infection. Moreover, we demonstrate our approach to vaccine construction and the preparation of BLP23017 with distinct advantages may contribute to the prevention of a wider array of diseases and the novel vaccine development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiyuan Guo
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
| | - Hongkun Ren
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
| | - Qingru Chang
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
| | - Runhang Liu
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease control and prevention, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, China
| | - Xinyao Zhou
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
| | - Kun Xue
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
| | - Tong Sun
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
| | - Jilong Luo
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
| | - Fang Wang
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease control and prevention, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, China.
| | - Junwei Ge
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China; Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Harbin 150030, China.
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Sarfraz A, Qurrat-Ul-Ain Fatima S, Shehroz M, Ahmad I, Zaman A, Nishan U, Tayyab M, Sheheryar, Moura AA, Ullah R, Ali EA, Shah M. Decrypting the multi-genome data for chimeric vaccine designing against the antibiotic resistant Yersinia pestis. Int Immunopharmacol 2024; 132:111952. [PMID: 38555818 DOI: 10.1016/j.intimp.2024.111952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2024] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is a gram-negative bacterium that can be fatal if not treated properly. Three types of plague are currently known: bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic plague, among which the fatality rate of septicemic and pneumonic plague is very high. Bubonic plague can be treated, but only if antibiotics are used at the initial stage of the infection. But unfortunately, Y. pestis has also shown resistance to certain antibiotics such as kanamycin, minocycline, tetracycline, streptomycin, sulfonamides, spectinomycin, and chloramphenicol. Despite tremendous progress in vaccine development against Y. pestis, there is no proper FDA-approved vaccine available to protect people from its infections. Therefore, effective broad-spectrum vaccine development against Y. pestis is indispensable. In this study, vaccinomics-assisted immunoinformatics techniques were used to find possible vaccine candidates by utilizing the core proteome prepared from 58 complete genomes of Y. pestis. Human non-homologous, pathogen-essential, virulent, and extracellular and membrane proteins are potential vaccine targets. Two antigenic proteins were prioritized for the prediction of lead epitopes by utilizing reverse vaccinology approaches. Four vaccine designs were formulated using the selected B- and T-cell epitopes coupled with appropriate linkers and adjuvant sequences capable of inducing potent immune responses. The HLA allele population coverage of the T-cell epitopes selected for vaccine construction was also analyzed. The V2 constructs were top-ranked and selected for further analysis on the basis of immunological, physicochemical, and immune-receptor docking interactions and scores. Docking and molecular dynamic simulations confirmed the stability of construct V2 interactions with the host immune receptors. Immune simulation analysis anticipated the strong immune profile of the prioritized construct. In silico restriction cloning ensured the feasible cloning ability of the V2 construct in the expression system of E. coli strain K12. It is anticipated that the designed vaccine construct may be safe, effective, and able to elicit strong immune responses against Y. pestis infections and may, therefore, merit investigation using in vitro and in vivo assays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Asifa Sarfraz
- Department of Biochemistry, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 66000, Pakistan
| | | | - Muhammad Shehroz
- Department of Bioinformatics, Kohsar University Murree, Murree 47150, Pakistan
| | - Iqra Ahmad
- Department of Biochemistry, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 66000, Pakistan
| | - Aqal Zaman
- Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 66000, Pakistan
| | - Umar Nishan
- Department of Chemistry, Kohat University of Science & Technology, Kohat, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Tayyab
- Institute of Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan
| | - Sheheryar
- Department of Animal Science, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil
| | | | - Riaz Ullah
- Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Essam A Ali
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mohibullah Shah
- Department of Biochemistry, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 66000, Pakistan.
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Dashti F, Raisi A, Pourali G, Razavi ZS, Ravaei F, Sadri Nahand J, Kourkinejad-Gharaei F, Mirazimi SMA, Zamani J, Tarrahimofrad H, Hashemian SMR, Mirzaei H. A computational approach to design a multiepitope vaccine against H5N1 virus. Virol J 2024; 21:67. [PMID: 38509569 PMCID: PMC10953225 DOI: 10.1186/s12985-024-02337-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Since 1997, highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses, such as H5N1, have been recognized as a possible pandemic hazard to men and the poultry business. The rapid rate of mutation of H5N1 viruses makes the whole process of designing vaccines extremely challenging. Here, we used an in silico approach to design a multi-epitope vaccine against H5N1 influenza A virus using hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) antigens. B-cell epitopes, Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) and Helper T lymphocyte (HTL) were predicted via IEDB, NetMHC-4 and NetMHCII-2.3 respectively. Two adjuvants consisting of Human β-defensin-3 (HβD-3) along with pan HLA DR-binding epitope (PADRE) have been chosen to induce more immune response. Linkers including KK, AAY, HEYGAEALERAG, GPGPGPG and double EAAAK were utilized to link epitopes and adjuvants. This construct encodes a protein having 350 amino acids and 38.46 kDa molecular weight. Antigenicity of ~ 1, the allergenicity of non-allergen, toxicity of negative and solubility of appropriate were confirmed through Vaxigen, AllerTOP, ToxDL and DeepSoluE, respectively. The 3D structure of H5N1 was refined and validated with a Z-Score of - 0.87 and an overall Ramachandran of 99.7%. Docking analysis showed H5N1 could interact with TLR7 (docking score of - 374.08 and by 4 hydrogen bonds) and TLR8 (docking score of - 414.39 and by 3 hydrogen bonds). Molecular dynamics simulations results showed RMSD and RMSF of 0.25 nm and 0.2 for H5N1-TLR7 as well as RMSD and RMSF of 0.45 nm and 0.4 for H5N1-TLR8 complexes, respectively. Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area (MM/PBSA) confirmed stability and continuity of interaction between H5N1-TLR7 with the total binding energy of - 29.97 kJ/mol and H5N1-TLR8 with the total binding energy of - 23.9 kJ/mol. Investigating immune response simulation predicted evidence of the ability to stimulate T and B cells of the immunity system that shows the merits of this H5N1 vaccine proposed candidate for clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatemeh Dashti
- School of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran
- Student Research Committee, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran
| | - Arash Raisi
- School of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran
- Student Research Committee, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran
| | - Ghazaleh Pourali
- Metabolic Syndrome Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Islamic Republic of Iran
| | - Zahra Sadat Razavi
- School of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran
- Student Research Committee, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran
| | - Fatemeh Ravaei
- School of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran
- Student Research Committee, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran
| | - Javid Sadri Nahand
- Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Islamic Republic of Iran
| | - Fatemeh Kourkinejad-Gharaei
- Student Research Committee, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Emam Reza Hospital, Sirjan School of Medical Sciences, Sirjan, Islamic Republic of Iran
| | - Seyed Mohammad Ali Mirazimi
- School of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran
- Student Research Committee, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran
| | - Javad Zamani
- Department of Animal Biotechnology, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB), Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
| | - Hossein Tarrahimofrad
- Department of Animal Biotechnology, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB), Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
| | - Seyed Mohammad Reza Hashemian
- Chronic Respiratory Diseases Research Center (CRDRC), National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
| | - Hamed Mirzaei
- Research Center for Biochemistry and Nutrition in Metabolic Diseases, Institute for Basic Sciences, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran.
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Li M, Yu M, Yuan Y, Li D, Ye D, Zhao M, Lin Z, Shi L. Designing a conjugate vaccine targeting Klebsiella pneumoniae ST258 and ST11. Heliyon 2024; 10:e27417. [PMID: 38486755 PMCID: PMC10938132 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e27417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Revised: 02/28/2024] [Accepted: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 03/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) is a common bacterium that can cause iatrogenic infection. Recently, the rise of antibiotic resistance among K. pneumoniae strains is one key factor associated with antibiotic treatment failure. Hencefore, there is an urgent need for effective K. pneumoniae vaccines. This study aimed to design a multi-epitope vaccine (MEV) candidate against K. pneumonia by utilizing an immunoinformatics method. In this study, we obtained 15 cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes, 10 helper T lymphocyte epitopes, 6 linear B-cell epitopes, and 2 conformational B-cell epitopes for further research. Then, we designed a multi-epitope vaccine composed of a total of 743 amino acids, containing the epitopes linked by GPGPG flexible links and an EAAAK linker to the Cholera Toxin Subunit B coadjuvant. The observed properties of the MEV, including non-allergenicity, high antigenicity, and hydrophilicity, are noteworthy. The improvements in the tertiary structure through structural refinement and disulfide bonding, coupled with promising molecular interactions revealed by molecular dynamics simulations with TLR4, position the MEV as a strong candidate for further investigation against K. pneumoniae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Li
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, 1 Xuefubei Street, Ouhai District, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Mingkai Yu
- School of Life Science and Technology, Southeast University, Xinjiekou Street, Xuanwu District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Yigang Yuan
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, 1 Xuefubei Street, Ouhai District, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Danyang Li
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, 1 Xuefubei Street, Ouhai District, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Daijiao Ye
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, 1 Xuefubei Street, Ouhai District, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Min Zhao
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, 1 Xuefubei Street, Ouhai District, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Zihan Lin
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, 1 Xuefubei Street, Ouhai District, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Liuzhi Shi
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnosis and Translational Research of Zhejiang Province, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
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5
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Nguyen TL, Kim H. Immunoinformatics and computational approaches driven designing a novel vaccine candidate against Powassan virus. Sci Rep 2024; 14:5999. [PMID: 38472237 PMCID: PMC10933373 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-56554-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Powassan virus (POWV) is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) capable of causing severe illness in humans for severe neurological complications, and its incidence has been on the rise in recent years due to climate change, posing a growing public health concern. Currently, no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat POWV disease, emphasizing the urgent need for effective countermeasures. In this study, we utilize bioinformatics approaches to target proteins of POWV, including the capsid, envelope, and membrane proteins, to predict diverse B-cell and T-cell epitopes. These epitopes underwent screening for critical properties such as antigenicity, allergenicity, toxicity, and cytokine induction potential. Eight selected epitopes were then conjugated with adjuvants using various linkers, resulting in designing of a potentially stable and immunogenic vaccine candidate against POWV. Moreover, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, and immune simulations revealed a stable interaction pattern with the immune receptor, suggesting the vaccine's potential to induce robust immune responses. In conclusion, our study provided a set of derived epitopes from POWV's proteins, demonstrating the potential for a novel vaccine candidate against POWV. Further in vitro and in vivo studies are warranted to advance our efforts and move closer to the goal of combatting POWV and related arbovirus infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Truc Ly Nguyen
- Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea
| | - Heebal Kim
- Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea.
- Interdisciplinary Program in Bioinformatics, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea.
- eGnome, Inc., Seoul, 05836, Republic of Korea.
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6
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Wadapurkar R, Singh S, Singh A. Leveraging the immunoinformatics approach for designing the SARS-CoV-2 omicron-specific antigenic cassette of mRNA vaccine. Vaccine 2024; 42:1630-1647. [PMID: 38336561 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.01.087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2023] [Revised: 01/10/2024] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has presented a significant challenge to global health, demanding rapid development of mRNA-based vaccines. The mRNA-guided vaccine platforms offer various advantages over traditional vaccine platforms. The mRNA by nature is a short-lived molecule that guides the cells to manufacture antigenic proteins. In the present work, we have created an omicron spike antigenic protein sequence characterized by base composition analysis, modeling, and docking with the ACE-2 receptor. Further, we predicted the B-cell and T-cell epitopes followed by antigenicity, toxicity, and allergenicity. Finally, the protein was reverse translated, codon-optimized, and encoding mRNA sequence was checked for its stability by predicting the secondary structures. A comprehensive examination of in-silico data revealed 628.2 as a potent antigenic candidate that was finally used in Gemcovac®-OM, a heterologous booster mRNA vaccine for COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rucha Wadapurkar
- Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., ITBT Park, Hinjewadi Phase 2 Rd, Hinjewadi Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park, Hinjewadi, Pune, Maharashtra 411057, India
| | - Sanjay Singh
- Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., ITBT Park, Hinjewadi Phase 2 Rd, Hinjewadi Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park, Hinjewadi, Pune, Maharashtra 411057, India
| | - Ajay Singh
- Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., ITBT Park, Hinjewadi Phase 2 Rd, Hinjewadi Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park, Hinjewadi, Pune, Maharashtra 411057, India.
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Shahab M, Iqbal MW, Ahmad A, Alshabrmi FM, Wei DQ, Khan A, Zheng G. Immunoinformatics-driven In silico vaccine design for Nipah virus (NPV): Integrating machine learning and computational epitope prediction. Comput Biol Med 2024; 170:108056. [PMID: 38301512 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2024.108056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024]
Abstract
The Nipah virus (NPV) is a highly lethal virus, known for its significant fatality rate. The virus initially originated in Malaysia in 1998 and later led to outbreaks in nearby countries such as Bangladesh, Singapore, and India. Currently, there are no specific vaccines available for this virus. The current work employed the reverse vaccinology method to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the entire proteome of the NPV virus. The aim was to identify and choose the most promising antigenic proteins that could serve as potential candidates for vaccine development. We have also designed B and T cell epitopes-based vaccine candidate using immunoinformatics approach. We have identified a total of 5 novel Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes (CTL), 5 Helper T Lymphocytes (HTL), and 6 linear B-cell potential antigenic epitopes which are novel and can be used for further vaccine development against Nipah virus. Then we performed the physicochemical properties, antigenic, immunogenic and allergenicity prediction of the designed vaccine candidate against NPV. Further, Computational analysis indicated that these epitopes possessed highly antigenic properties and were capable of interacting with immune receptors. The designed vaccine were then docked with the human immune receptors, namely TLR-2 and TLR-4 showed robust interaction with the immune receptor. Molecular dynamics simulations demonstrated robust binding and good dynamics. After numerous dosages at varied intervals, computational immune response modeling showed that the immunogenic construct might elicit a significant immune response. In conclusion, the immunogenic construct shows promise in providing protection against NPV, However, further experimental validation is required before moving to clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Shahab
- State key Laboratories of Chemical Resources Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
| | - Muhammad Waleed Iqbal
- State key Laboratories of Chemical Resources Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
| | - Abbas Ahmad
- Department of Biotechnology Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Pakistan
| | - Fahad M Alshabrmi
- Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah, 51452, Saudi Arabia.
| | - Dong-Qing Wei
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biological Statistics, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China; Zhongjing Research and Industrialization Institute of Chinese Medicine, Zhongguancun Scientific Park, Meixi, Nayang, Henan, 473006, China; Peng Cheng Laboratory, Vanke Cloud City Phase I Building 8, Xili Street, Nashan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, China
| | - Abbas Khan
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biological Statistics, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China; Zhongjing Research and Industrialization Institute of Chinese Medicine, Zhongguancun Scientific Park, Meixi, Nayang, Henan, 473006, China; Center for Microbiome Research, School of Medical and Life Sciences, Sunway University, Sunway City, Malaysia.
| | - Guojun Zheng
- State key Laboratories of Chemical Resources Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China.
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Teixeira DG, Rodrigues-Neto JF, da Cunha DCS, Jeronimo SMB. Understanding SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein clusters and their impact on immunity of the population from Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Infect Genet Evol 2024; 118:105556. [PMID: 38242186 DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2024.105556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Revised: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 01/21/2024]
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 genome underwent mutations since it started circulating within the human population. The aim of this study was to understand the fluctuation of the spike clusters concomitant to the population immunity either due to natural infection and/or vaccination in a state of Brazil that had both high rate of natural infection and vaccination coverage. A total of 1725 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, were retrieved from GISAID and subjected to cluster analysis. Immunoinformatics were used to predict T- and B-cell epitopes, followed by simulation to estimate either pro- or anti-inflammatory responses and to correlate with circulating variants. From March 2020 to June 2022, the state of Rio Grande do Norte reported 579,931 COVID-19 cases with a 1.4% fatality rate across the three major waves: May-Sept 2020, Feb-Aug 2021, and Jan-Mar 2022. Cluster 0 variants (wild type strain, Zeta) were prevalent in the first wave and Delta (AY.*), which circulated in Brazil in the latter half of 2021, featuring fewer unique epitopes. Cluster 1 (Gamma (P.1 + P.1.*)) dominated the first half of 2021. Late 2021 had two new clusters, Cluster 2 (Omicron, (B.1.1.529 + BA.*)), and Cluster 3 (BA.*) with the most unique epitopes, in addition to Cluster 4 (Delta sub lineages) which emerged in the second half of 2021 with fewer unique epitopes. Cluster 1 epitopes showed a high pro-inflammatory propensity, while others exhibited a balanced cytokine induction. The clustering method effectively identified Spike groups that may contribute to immune evasion and clinical presentation, and explain in part the clinical outcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diego Gomes Teixeira
- Instituto de Medicina Tropical do Rio Grande do Norte, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
| | - João Firmino Rodrigues-Neto
- Instituto de Medicina Tropical do Rio Grande do Norte, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil; Escola Multicampi de Ciências Médicas do Rio Grande do Norte, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Caicó, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
| | - Dayse Caroline Severiano da Cunha
- Instituto de Medicina Tropical do Rio Grande do Norte, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
| | - Selma Maria Bezerra Jeronimo
- Instituto de Medicina Tropical do Rio Grande do Norte, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil; Departmento de Bioquímica, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Doenças Tropicais, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
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9
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Shams MH, Sohrabi SM, Jafari R, Sheikhian A, Motedayyen H, Baharvand PA, Hasanvand A, Fouladvand A, Assarehzadegan MA. Designing a T-cell epitope-based vaccine using in silico approaches against the Sal k 1 allergen of Salsola kali plant. Sci Rep 2024; 14:5040. [PMID: 38424208 PMCID: PMC10904830 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-55788-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Allergens originated from Salsola kali (Russian thistle) pollen grains are one of the most important sources of aeroallergens causing pollinosis in desert and semi-desert regions. T-cell epitope-based vaccines (TEV) are more effective among different therapeutic approaches developed to alleviate allergic diseases. The physicochemical properties, and B as well as T cell epitopes of Sal k 1 (a major allergen of S. kali) were predicted using immunoinformatic tools. A TEV was constructed using the linkers EAAAK, GPGPG and the most suitable CD4+ T cell epitopes. RS04 adjuvant was added as a TLR4 agonist to the amino (N) and carboxyl (C) terminus of the TEV protein. The secondary and tertiary structures, solubility, allergenicity, toxicity, stability, physicochemical properties, docking with immune receptors, BLASTp against the human and microbiota proteomes, and in silico cloning of the designed TEV were assessed using immunoinformatic analyses. Two CD4+ T cell epitopes of Sal k1 that had high affinity with different alleles of MHC-II were selected and used in the TEV. The molecular docking of the TEV with HLADRB1, and TLR4 showed TEV strong interactions and stable binding pose to these receptors. Moreover, the codon optimized TEV sequence was cloned between NcoI and XhoI restriction sites of pET-28a(+) expression plasmid. The designed TEV can be used as a promising candidate in allergen-specific immunotherapy against S. kali. Nonetheless, effectiveness of this vaccine should be validated through immunological bioassays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Hossein Shams
- Hepatitis Research Center and Department of Medical Immunology, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran.
| | - Seyyed Mohsen Sohrabi
- Department of Production Engineering and Plant Genetic, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Box 6814993165, Ahvaz, Iran
| | - Reza Jafari
- School of Allied Medical Sciences, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran
| | - Ali Sheikhian
- Hepatitis Research Center and Department of Medical Immunology, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran
| | - Hossein Motedayyen
- Autoimmune Diseases Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
| | - Peyman Amanolahi Baharvand
- Hepatitis Research Center and Department of Medical Immunology, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran
| | - Amin Hasanvand
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran
| | - Ali Fouladvand
- Hepatitis Research Center and Department of Medical Immunology, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran
| | - Mohammad-Ali Assarehzadegan
- Immunology Research Center, Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
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10
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Chao P, Zhang X, Zhang L, Yang A, Wang Y, Chen X. Proteomics-based vaccine targets annotation and design of multi-epitope vaccine against antibiotic-resistant Streptococcus gallolyticus. Sci Rep 2024; 14:4836. [PMID: 38418560 PMCID: PMC10901886 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-55372-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Streptococcus gallolyticus is a non-motile, gram-positive bacterium that causes infective endocarditis. S. gallolyticus has developed resistance to existing antibiotics, and no vaccine is currently available. Therefore, it is essential to develop an effective S. gallolyticus vaccine. Core proteomics was used in this study together with subtractive proteomics and reverse vaccinology approach to find antigenic proteins that could be utilized for the design of the S. gallolyticus multi-epitope vaccine. The pipeline identified two antigenic proteins as potential vaccine targets: penicillin-binding protein and the ATP synthase subunit. T and B cell epitopes from the specific proteins were forecasted employing several immunoinformatics and bioinformatics resources. A vaccine (360 amino acids) was created using a combination of seven cytotoxic T cell lymphocyte (CTL), three helper T cell lymphocyte (HTL), and five linear B cell lymphocyte (LBL) epitopes. To increase immune responses, the vaccine was paired with a cholera enterotoxin subunit B (CTB) adjuvant. The developed vaccine was highly antigenic, non-allergenic, and stable for human use. The vaccine's binding affinity and molecular interactions with the human immunological receptor TLR4 were studied using molecular mechanics/generalized Born surface area (MMGBSA), molecular docking, and molecular dynamic (MD) simulation analyses. Escherichia coli (strain K12) plasmid vector pET-28a ( +) was used to examine the ability of the vaccine to be expressed. According to the outcomes of these computer experiments, the vaccine is quite promising in terms of developing a protective immunity against diseases. However, in vitro and animal research are required to validate our findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peng Chao
- Department of Cardiology, People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, China
| | - Xueqin Zhang
- Department of Nephrology, People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, China
| | - Lei Zhang
- Department of Cardiology, People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, China
| | - Aiping Yang
- Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, China
| | - Yong Wang
- Department of Cardiology, People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, China
| | - Xiaoyang Chen
- Department of Cardiology, People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, China.
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11
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Salahlou R, Farajnia S, Bargahi N, Bakhtiyari N, Elmi F, Shahgolzari M, Fiering S, Venkataraman S. Development of a novel multi‑epitope vaccine against the pathogenic human polyomavirus V6/7 using reverse vaccinology. BMC Infect Dis 2024; 24:177. [PMID: 38336665 PMCID: PMC10854057 DOI: 10.1186/s12879-024-09046-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Human polyomaviruses contribute to human oncogenesis through persistent infections, but currently there is no effective preventive measure against the malignancies caused by this virus. Therefore, the development of a safe and effective vaccine against HPyV is of high priority. METHODS First, the proteomes of 2 polyomavirus species (HPyV6 and HPyV7) were downloaded from the NCBI database for the selection of the target proteins. The epitope identification process focused on selecting proteins that were crucial, associated with virulence, present on the surface, antigenic, non-toxic, and non-homologous with the human proteome. Then, the immunoinformatic methods were used to identify cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL), helper T-lymphocyte (HTL), and B-cell epitopes from the target antigens, which could be used to create epitope-based vaccine. The physicochemical features of the designed vaccine were predicted through various online servers. The binding pattern and stability between the vaccine candidate and Toll-like receptors were analyzed through molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, while the immunogenicity of the designed vaccines was assessed using immune simulation. RESULTS Online tools were utilized to forecast the most optimal epitope from the immunogenic targets, including LTAg, VP1, and VP1 antigens of HPyV6 and HPyV7. A multi-epitope vaccine was developed by combining 10 CTL, 7 HTL, and 6 LBL epitopes with suitable linkers and adjuvant. The vaccine displayed 98.35% of the world's population coverage. The 3D model of the vaccine structure revealed that the majority of residues (87.7%) were located in favored regions of the Ramachandran plot. The evaluation of molecular docking and MD simulation revealed that the constructed vaccine exhibits a strong binding (-1414.0 kcal/mol) towards the host's TLR4. Moreover, the vaccine-TLR complexes remained stable throughout the dynamic conditions present in the natural environment. The immune simulation results demonstrated that the vaccine design had the capacity to elicit robust immune responses in the host. CONCLUSION The multi-parametric analysis revealed that the designed vaccine is capable of inducing sustained immunity against the selected polyomaviruses, although further in-vivo investigations are needed to verify its effectiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reza Salahlou
- Biotechnology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
- Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
| | - Safar Farajnia
- Biotechnology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
- Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
| | - Nasrin Bargahi
- Biotechnology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
| | - Nasim Bakhtiyari
- Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
- Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
| | - Faranak Elmi
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
| | - Mehdi Shahgolzari
- Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
| | - Steven Fiering
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine, and Dartmouth Cancer Center, Lebanon, NH, USA
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12
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Bahadori Z, Shafaghi M, Sabzevari J, Madanchi H, Ranjbar MM, Mousavi SF, Shabani AA. Design, development, and assessment of a novel multi-peptide vaccine targeting PspC, PsaA, and PhtD proteins of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Int J Biol Macromol 2024; 258:128924. [PMID: 38143051 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.128924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2023] [Revised: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023]
Abstract
Pneumococcus is the top cause of diseases such as pneumonia/meningitis, and of secondary infections after viral respiratory diseases like COVID-19/flu. Pneumococcal protein-based vaccines consisting of proteins with various functions in virulence might provide a qualified alternative for present vaccines. In this project, PspC, PsaA, and PhtD proteins were considered to anticipate B/T-cell epitopes using immunoinformatics to develop 4 multi-peptide constructs (C, A, and D individual constructs, and a fusion construct CAD). We tested whether vaccination with CAD is able to elicit more efficient protective responses against infection than vaccination with the individual constructs or combination of C + A + D. Based on the in silico results, the constructs were predicted to be antigenic, soluble, non-toxic, and stable, and also be able to provoke humoral/cellular immune reactions. When mice were immunized with the fusion protein, significantly higher levels of IgG and cytokines were induced in serum. The IgG in the fusion group had an effective bioactivity for pneumococcus clearance utilizing the complement pathway. The mice immunized with fusion protein were the most protected from challenge. This report for the first time presents a novel multi-peptide vaccine composed of immunodominant peptides of PspC, PsaA, and PhtD. In general, the experimental results supported the immunoinformatics predictions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zohreh Bahadori
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran; Department of Bacteriology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Mona Shafaghi
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran; Department of Bacteriology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Jahangir Sabzevari
- Department of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology, Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Hamid Madanchi
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran; Drug Design and Bioinformatics Unit, Biotechnology Research Center, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran; Nervous System Stem Cells Research Center, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran
| | - Mohammad Mehdi Ranjbar
- Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran
| | | | - Ali Akbar Shabani
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
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13
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Dhanushkumar T, Selvam PK, M E S, Vasudevan K, C GPD, Zayed H, Kamaraj B. Rational design of a multivalent vaccine targeting arthropod-borne viruses using reverse vaccinology strategies. Int J Biol Macromol 2024; 258:128753. [PMID: 38104690 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.128753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 12/09/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Viruses transmitted by arthropods, such as Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya, represent substantial worldwide health threats, particularly in countries like India. The lack of approved vaccines and effective antiviral therapies calls for developing innovative strategies to tackle these arboviruses. In this study, we employed immunoinformatics methodologies, incorporating reverse vaccinology, to design a multivalent vaccine targeting the predominant arboviruses. Epitopes of B and T cells were recognized within the non-structural proteins of Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya viruses. The predicted epitopes were enhanced with adjuvants β-defensin and RS-09 to boost the vaccine's immunogenicity. Sixteen distinct vaccine candidates were constructed, each incorporating epitopes from all three viruses. FUVAC-11 emerged as the most promising vaccine candidate through molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations, demonstrating favorable binding interactions and stability. Its effectiveness was further evaluated using computational immunological studies confirming strong immune responses. The in silico cloning performed using the pET-28a(+) plasmid facilitates the future experimental implementation of this vaccine candidate, paving the way for potential advancements in combating these significant arboviral threats. However, further in vitro and in vivo studies are warranted to confirm the results obtained in this computational study, which highlights the effectiveness of immunoinformatics and reverse vaccinology in creating vaccines against major Arboviruses, offering a promising model for developing vaccines for other vector-borne diseases and enhancing global health security.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Dhanushkumar
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Prasanna Kumar Selvam
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Santhosh M E
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Karthick Vasudevan
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India.
| | - George Priya Doss C
- Laboratory of Integrative Genomics, Department of Integrative Biology, School of BioSciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, India.
| | - Hatem Zayed
- Department of Biomedical Sciences College of Health Sciences, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Balu Kamaraj
- Department of Dental Education, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
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14
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Köseoğlu AE, Can H, Güvendi M, Erkunt Alak S, Değirmenci Döşkaya A, Karakavuk M, Döşkaya M, Ün C. Molecular characterization of Anaplasma ovis Msp4 protein in strains isolated from ticks in Turkey: A multi-epitope synthetic vaccine antigen design against Anaplasma ovis using immunoinformatic tools. Biologicals 2024; 85:101749. [PMID: 38325003 DOI: 10.1016/j.biologicals.2024.101749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2023] [Revised: 01/07/2024] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 02/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Tick-borne pathogens increasingly threaten animal and human health as well as cause great economic loss in the livestock industry. Among these pathogens, Anaplasma ovis causing a decrease in meat and milk yield is frequently detected in sheep in many countries including Turkey. This study aimed to reveal potential vaccine candidate epitopes in Msp4 protein using sequence data from Anaplasma ovis isolates and then to design a multi-epitope protein to be used in vaccine formulations against Anaplasma ovis. For this purpose, Msp4 gene was sequenced from Anaplasma ovis isolates (n:6) detected in ticks collected from sheep in Turkey and the sequence data was compared with previous sequences from different countries in order to detect the variations of Msp4 gene/protein. Potential vaccine candidate and diagnostic epitopes were predicted using various immunoinformatics tools. Among the discovered vaccine candidate epitopes, antigenic and conserved were selected, and then a multi-epitope protein was designed. The designed vaccine protein was tested for the assessment of TLR-2, IgG, and IFN-g responses by molecular docking and immune simulation analyses. Among the discovered epitopes, EVASEGSGVM and YQFTPEISLV epitopes with properties of high antigenicity, non-allergenicity, and non-toxicity were proposed to be used for Anaplasma ovis in further serodiagnostic and vaccine studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmet Efe Köseoğlu
- Duisburg-Essen University, Faculty of Chemistry, Department of Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, Essen, Germany
| | - Hüseyin Can
- Ege University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Molecular Biology Section, İzmir, Turkiye; Ege University, Vaccine Development Application and Research Center, İzmir, Turkiye; Ege University, Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Vaccine Studies, İzmir, Turkiye
| | - Mervenur Güvendi
- Ege University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Molecular Biology Section, İzmir, Turkiye
| | - Sedef Erkunt Alak
- Ege University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Molecular Biology Section, İzmir, Turkiye; Ege University, Vaccine Development Application and Research Center, İzmir, Turkiye
| | - Aysu Değirmenci Döşkaya
- Ege University, Vaccine Development Application and Research Center, İzmir, Turkiye; Ege University, Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Vaccine Studies, İzmir, Turkiye; Ege University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Parasitology, İzmir, Turkiye
| | - Muhammet Karakavuk
- Ege University, Vaccine Development Application and Research Center, İzmir, Turkiye; Ege University, Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Vaccine Studies, İzmir, Turkiye; Ege University, Odemis Vocational School, İzmir, Turkiye
| | - Mert Döşkaya
- Ege University, Vaccine Development Application and Research Center, İzmir, Turkiye; Ege University, Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Vaccine Studies, İzmir, Turkiye; Ege University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Parasitology, İzmir, Turkiye
| | - Cemal Ün
- Ege University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Molecular Biology Section, İzmir, Turkiye; Ege University, Vaccine Development Application and Research Center, İzmir, Turkiye; Ege University, Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Vaccine Studies, İzmir, Turkiye.
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15
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Wang Y, Wu A, Xu Z, Zhang H, Li H, Fu S, Liu Y, Cui L, Miao Y, Wang Y, Zhumanov K, Xu Y, Sheng J, Yi J, Chen C. A multi-epitope subunit vaccine based on CU/ZN-SOD, OMP31 and BP26 against Brucella melitensis infection in BALB/C mice. Int Immunopharmacol 2024; 127:111351. [PMID: 38113688 DOI: 10.1016/j.intimp.2023.111351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Revised: 12/02/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
Brucellosis, a zoonosis caused by Brucella, is highly detrimental to both humans and animals. Most existing vaccines are live attenuated vaccines with safety flaws for people and animals. Therefore, it is advantageous to design a multi-epitope subunit vaccine (MEV) to prevent Brucella infection. To this end, we applied a reverse vaccinology approach. Six cytotoxic T cell (CTL) epitopes, seven T helper cell (HTL) epitopes, and four linear B cell epitopes from CU/ZN-SOD, Omp31, and BP26 were obtained. We linked the CTL, HTL, B-cell epitopes, the appropriate CTB molecular adjuvant, and the universal T helper lymphocyte epitope, PADRE, with linkers AAY, GPPGG, and KK, respectively. This yielded a 412-amino acid MEV construct, which we named MEVcob. The immunogenicity, stability, safety, and feasibility of the construct were evaluated by bioinformatics tools (including the AlphaFold2 prediction tool, the AlphaFold2 tool, NetMHC-I pan 4.0 server, IEDB MHC-I server, ABCpred service, and C-ImmSim server); the physicochemical properties, secondary and tertiary structures, and binding ability of MEVocb to toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) was analyzed. Then, codon adaptation and computer cloning studies were performed. MEVocb is highly immunogenic in immunostimulation experiments, The proteins translated by these sequences were relatively stable, exhibiting a high antigenic index. Furthermore, mouse experiments confirmed that the MEVocb construct could raise IFN-γ, IgG, IgG2a, IgG1, IL-2, TNF-α levels in mice, indicating that induced a specific humoral and cellular immune response in BALB/c mice. This vaccine induced a statistically significant level of protection in BALB/c mice when challenged with Brucella melitensis 043 in Xinjiang. Briefly, we utilized immunoinformatic tools to design a novel multi-epitope subunit candidate vaccine against Brucella. This vaccine aims to induce host immune responses and confer specific protective effects. The study results offer a theoretical foundation for the development of a novel Brucella subunit vaccine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yueli Wang
- School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, 832000 Shihezi City, Xinjiang, China
| | - Aodi Wu
- School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, 832000 Shihezi City, Xinjiang, China
| | - Zhenyu Xu
- School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, 832000 Shihezi City, Xinjiang, China
| | - Huan Zhang
- School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, 832000 Shihezi City, Xinjiang, China
| | - Honghuan Li
- School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, 832000 Shihezi City, Xinjiang, China
| | - Shuangshuang Fu
- School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, 832000 Shihezi City, Xinjiang, China
| | - Yajing Liu
- School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, 832000 Shihezi City, Xinjiang, China
| | - Lijin Cui
- Fujian Biotechnology Co., LTD., 353000 Nanping, Fujian, China
| | - Yuhe Miao
- Fujian Biotechnology Co., LTD., 353000 Nanping, Fujian, China
| | - Yong Wang
- School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, 832000 Shihezi City, Xinjiang, China
| | - Kaiat Zhumanov
- Kazakh National Agrarian University, The Republic of Kazakhstan
| | - Yimei Xu
- Xinjiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 830000 Urumqi, Xinjiang, China
| | - Jinliang Sheng
- School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, 832000 Shihezi City, Xinjiang, China.
| | - Jihai Yi
- School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, 832000 Shihezi City, Xinjiang, China.
| | - Chuangfu Chen
- School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, 832000 Shihezi City, Xinjiang, China.
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16
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Roja B, Chellapandi P. Design and characterization of a multi-epitope vaccine against Clostridium botulinum A3 Loch Maree intoxication in humans. Gene 2024; 892:147865. [PMID: 37783297 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2023.147865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Revised: 09/03/2023] [Accepted: 09/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023]
Abstract
Clostridium botulinum Loch Maree expresses an extremely potent botulinum neurotoxin subtype, A3 causing botulism and several gastrointestinal disorders in mammals. Several recombinant vaccines have been developed for human botulism and no vaccine is currently available for the treatment of diseases caused by other virulence factors. Hence, we designed, constructed, and characterized a multi-epitope vaccine from new virulence proteins identified from this organism using an immunoinformatics approach. The vaccine construct used in this study was designed from 6B cell linear epitopes, 12 cytotoxic T cell lymphocyte epitopes, and 15 helper T cell lymphocyte epitopes, with a defensin adjuvant and adjusting linker sequences. A molecular modeling approach was used to model, refine, and validate the 3D structure of the vaccine construct. Molecular docking studies were performed to determine the stability of the molecular interactions between the vaccine construct and human toll-like receptor 7. The in silico molecular cloning was used to clone a codon-optimized synthetic vaccine gene in pCYB1 vector and expressed in Escherichia coli. The results of this study identified six new virulence proteins: peptidoglycan hydrolase, SCP-like extracellular protein, N-acetylmuramoyl-l-alanine amidase, putative membrane protein, drug/metabolite exporter, and bacillolysin. The top B-cell, cytotoxic T-cell lymphocyte, and helper T-lymphocyte epitopes were predicted from these virulence proteins with greater accuracy and reliability. HLA-A*02:01 and HLA-A*03:01 were identified as HLA-A-binding alleles for cytotoxic T-cell lymphocyte epitopes. DRB1*0110 and DRB1*0115 are the dominant alleles that bind to helper T-cell lymphocyte epitopes. The synthetic gene construct was highly expressed in a heterologous host and produced considerable amounts of antigenic protein. The multi-epitope vaccine is more conservative in the sequence-structure-function link, immunogenic with less allergenicity, and possibly provokes cellular and humoral immunity. The present study suggests that the designed multi-epitope vaccine is a promising prophylactic candidate for the virulence and intoxication caused by subtype A3 strains.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Roja
- Industrial Systems Biology Lab, Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620024, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - P Chellapandi
- Industrial Systems Biology Lab, Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620024, Tamil Nadu, India.
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Dolley A, Goswami HB, Dowerah D, Dey U, Kumar A, Hmuaka V, Mukhopadhyay R, Kundu D, Varghese GM, Doley R, Chandra Deka R, Namsa ND. Reverse vaccinology and immunoinformatics approach to design a chimeric epitope vaccine against Orientia tsutsugamushi. Heliyon 2024; 10:e23616. [PMID: 38187223 PMCID: PMC10767154 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23616] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Revised: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Scrub typhus is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi and it is reportedly associated with up to 20 % of hospitalized cases of febrile illnesses. The major challenge of vaccine development is the lack of identified antigens that can induce both heterotypic and homotypic immunity including the production of antibodies, cytotoxic T lymphocyte, and helper T lymphocytes. We employed a comprehensive immunoinformatic prediction algorithm to identify immunogenic epitopes of the 56-kDa type-specific cell membrane surface antigen and surface cell antigen A of O. tsutsugamushi to select potential candidates for developing vaccines and diagnostic assays. We identified 35 linear and 29 continuous immunogenic B-cell epitopes and 51 and 27 strong-binding T-cell epitopes of major histocompatibility complex class I and class II molecules, respectively, in the conserved and variable regions of the 56-kDa type-specific surface antigen. The predicted B- and T-cell epitopes were used to develop immunogenic multi-epitope candidate vaccines and showed to elicit a broad-range of immune protection. A stable interactions between the multi-epitope vaccines and the host fibronectin protein were observed using docking and simulation methods. Molecular dynamics simulation studies demonstrated that the multi-epitope vaccine constructs and fibronectin docked models were stable during simulation time. Furthermore, the multi-epitope vaccine exhibited properties such as antigenicity, non-allergenicity and ability to induce interferon gamma production and had strong associations with their respective human leukocyte antigen alleles of world-wide population coverage. A correlation of immune simulations and the in-silico predicted immunogenic potential of multi-epitope vaccines implicate for further investigations to accelerate designing of epitope-based vaccine candidates and chimeric antigens for development of serological diagnostic assays for scrub typhus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anutee Dolley
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, Napaam, 784028, Assam, India
| | - Himanshu Ballav Goswami
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, Napaam, 784028, Assam, India
| | - Dikshita Dowerah
- Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University, Napaam, 784028, Assam, India
| | - Upalabdha Dey
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, Napaam, 784028, Assam, India
| | - Aditya Kumar
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, Napaam, 784028, Assam, India
| | - Vanlal Hmuaka
- Entomology and Biothreat Management Division, Defence Research Laboratory, Tezpur, 784001, Assam, India
| | - Rupak Mukhopadhyay
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, Napaam, 784028, Assam, India
| | - Debasree Kundu
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Christian Medical College, Vellore, 632002, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - George M. Varghese
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Christian Medical College, Vellore, 632002, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Robin Doley
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, Napaam, 784028, Assam, India
| | - Ramesh Chandra Deka
- Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University, Napaam, 784028, Assam, India
| | - Nima D. Namsa
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, Napaam, 784028, Assam, India
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Dhanushkumar T, M E S, Selvam PK, Rambabu M, Dasegowda KR, Vasudevan K, George Priya Doss C. Advancements and hurdles in the development of a vaccine for triple-negative breast cancer: A comprehensive review of multi-omics and immunomics strategies. Life Sci 2024; 337:122360. [PMID: 38135117 DOI: 10.1016/j.lfs.2023.122360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2023] [Revised: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) presents a significant challenge in oncology due to its aggressive behavior and limited therapeutic options. This review explores the potential of immunotherapy, particularly vaccine-based approaches, in addressing TNBC. It delves into the role of immunoinformatics in creating effective vaccines against TNBC. The review first underscores the distinct attributes of TNBC and the importance of tumor antigens in vaccine development. It then elaborates on antigen detection techniques such as exome sequencing, HLA typing, and RNA sequencing, which are instrumental in identifying TNBC-specific antigens and selecting vaccine candidates. The discussion then shifts to the in-silico vaccine development process, encompassing antigen selection, epitope prediction, and rational vaccine design. This process merges computational simulations with immunological insights. The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in expediting the prediction of antigens and epitopes is also emphasized. The review concludes by encapsulating how Immunoinformatics can augment the design of TNBC vaccines, integrating tumor antigens, advanced detection methods, in-silico strategies, and AI-driven insights to advance TNBC immunotherapy. This could potentially pave the way for more targeted and efficacious treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Dhanushkumar
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Santhosh M E
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Prasanna Kumar Selvam
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Majji Rambabu
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - K R Dasegowda
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Karthick Vasudevan
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India.
| | - C George Priya Doss
- Laboratory of Integrative Genomics, Department of Integrative Biology, School of BioSciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, India.
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Yuan L, Li X, Li M, Bi R, Li Y, Song J, Li W, Yan M, Luo H, Sun C, Shu Y. In silico design of a broad-spectrum multiepitope vaccine against influenza virus. Int J Biol Macromol 2024; 254:128071. [PMID: 37967595 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.128071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2023] [Revised: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/17/2023]
Abstract
Influenza remains a global health concern due to its potential to cause pandemics as a result of rapidly mutating influenza virus strains. Existing vaccines often struggle to keep up with these rapidly mutating flu viruses. Therefore, the development of a broad-spectrum peptide vaccine that can stimulate an optimal antibody response has emerged as an innovative approach to addressing the influenza threat. In this study, an immunoinformatic approach was employed to rapidly predict immunodominant epitopes from different antigens, aiming to develop an effective multiepitope influenza vaccine (MEV). The immunodominant B-cell linear epitopes of seasonal influenza strains hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) were predicted using an antibody-peptide microarray, involving a human cohort including vaccinees and infected patients. On the other hand, bioinformatics tools were used to predict immunodominant cytotoxic T-cell (CTL) and helper T-cell (HTL) epitopes. Subsequently, these epitopes were evaluated by various immunoinformatic tools. Epitopes with high antigenicity, high immunogenicity, non-allergenicity, non-toxicity, as well as exemplary conservation were then connected in series with appropriate linkers and adjuvants to construct a broad-spectrum MEV. Moreover, the structural analysis revealed that the MEV candidates exhibited good stability, and the docking results demonstrated their strong affinity to Toll-like receptors 4 (TLR4). In addition, molecular dynamics simulation confirmed the stable interaction between TLR4 and MEVs. Three injections with MEVs showed a high level of B-cell and T-cell immune responses according to the immunological simulations in silico. Furthermore, in-silico cloning was performed, and the results indicated that the MEVs could be produced in considerable quantities in Escherichia coli (E. coli). Based on these findings, it is reasonable to create a broad-spectrum MEV against different subtypes of influenza A and B viruses in silico.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lifang Yuan
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, PR China; School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
| | - Xu Li
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, PR China; School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China; Department of Pathogenic Biology and Immunology, School of Basic Medicine, Xiangnan University, Chenzhou, Hunan, PR China.
| | - Minchao Li
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, PR China; School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
| | - Rongjun Bi
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, PR China; School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China
| | - Yingrui Li
- Shenzhen Digital Life Institute, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518000, PR China.
| | - Jiaping Song
- Shenzhen Digital Life Institute, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518000, PR China.
| | - Wei Li
- Shenzhen Digital Life Institute, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518000, PR China.
| | - Mingchen Yan
- Shenzhen Digital Life Institute, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518000, PR China
| | - Huanle Luo
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, PR China; School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control (Sun Yat-sen University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510080, PR China.
| | - Caijun Sun
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, PR China; School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control (Sun Yat-sen University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510080, PR China.
| | - Yuelong Shu
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, PR China; School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control (Sun Yat-sen University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510080, PR China; Institute of Pathogen Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100176, PR China.
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20
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Alshiekheid MA, Dou AM, Algahtani M, Al-Megrin WAI, Alhawday YA, Alradhi AE, Bukhari K, Alharbi BF, Algefary AN, Alhunayhani BA, Allemailem KS. Bioinformatics and immunoinformatics assisted multiepitope vaccine construct against Burkholderia anthina. Saudi Pharm J 2024; 32:101917. [PMID: 38226347 PMCID: PMC10788630 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsps.2023.101917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Burkholderia anthina is a pathogenic bacterial species belonging to the Burkholderiaceae family and it is mainly considered the etiological agent of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases associated with cystic fibrosis, due to being intrinsic antibiotic resistant making it difficult to treat pulmonary infections. Hence increased rate of antibiotic-resistant bacterial species vaccine development is the priority to tackle this problem. In research work, we designed a multi-epitope-based vaccine construct against B. anthina using reverse vaccinology immunoinformatics and biophysical approaches. Based on the subtractive proteomic screening of core proteins we identified 3 probable antigenic proteins and good vaccine targets namely, type VI secretion system tube protein hcp Burkholderia, fimbria/pilus periplasmic chaperone and fimbrial biogenesis outer membrane usher protein. The selected 3 proteins were used for B and B cells B-derived T-cell epitopes prediction. In epitopes prediction, different epitopes were predicted with various lengths and percentile scores and subjected to further immunoinformatics analysis. In immunoinformatics screening a total number of 06, IDDGNANAL, KTVKPDPRY, SEVESGSAP, YGGDLTVEV, SVSHDTNGR, and GSKADGYQR epitopes were considered good vaccine target candidates and shortlisted for vaccine construct designing. The vaccine construct was designed by joining selected epitopes with the help of a GPGPG linker and additionally linked with cholera toxin b subunit adjuvant to increase the efficacy of the vaccine construct the sequence of the said adjuvant were retrieved from protein data bank through its (PDB ID: 5ELD). The designed vaccine construct was evaluated for its physiochemical properties analysis in which we reported that the vaccine construct comprises 216 amino acids with a molecular weight of 22.37499 kilo Dalton, 15.55 instability index (II) is computed, and this classifies that the vaccine construct is properly stable. VaxiJen v2.0 web server predicted that the vaccine construct is probable antigenic in nature with 0.6320 predicted value. Furthermore AllerTOP v. 2.0 tool predicted that the designed vaccine construct is non allergic in nature. Molecular docking analysis was done for analysis of the binding affinity of the vaccine construct with TLR-2 (PDB ID: 6NIG), the docking results predicted 799.2 kcal/mol binding energy score that represents the vaccine construct has a good binding ability with TLR-2. Moreover, molecular dynamic simulation analysis results revealed that the vaccine construct and immune cell receptor has proper binding stability over various environmental condition, i.e. change in pressure range, temperature, and motion. After each analysis, we observed that the vaccine construct is safe stable, and probably antigenic and could generate an immune response against the target pathogen but in the future, experimental analysis is still needed to verify in silico base results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maha A. Alshiekheid
- Department of Botany & Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ali M. Dou
- Department of Medical Laboratories, Riyadh Security Forces Hospital, Ministry of Interior, Riyadh 11481, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mohammad Algahtani
- Department of Laboratory & Blood Bank, Security Forces Hospital, P.O. Box 14799, Mecca 21955, Saudi Arabia
| | - Wafa Abdullah I. Al-Megrin
- Department of Biology, College of Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
| | - Yaseer Ali Alhawday
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Qassim University Medical City , Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia
| | - Arwa Essa Alradhi
- Regional Laboratory and Central Blood Bank, Hafr Al Batin 39513, Saudi Arabia
| | - Khulud Bukhari
- Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, P. O. Box 1757, Hofuf 36388, Al-Ahsa, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia
| | - Basmah F. Alharbi
- Department of Basic Health Science, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ahmed N. Algefary
- Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia
| | - Basmah Awwadh Alhunayhani
- Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia
| | - Khaled S. Allemailem
- Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia
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Shahab M, Aiman S, Alshammari A, Alasmari AF, Alharbi M, Khan A, Wei DQ, Zheng G. Immunoinformatics-based potential multi-peptide vaccine designing against Jamestown Canyon Virus (JCV) capable of eliciting cellular and humoral immune responses. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 253:126678. [PMID: 37666399 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023]
Abstract
Jamestown Canyon virus (JCV) is a deadly viral infection transmitted by various mosquito species. This mosquito-borne virus belongs to Bunyaviridae family, posing a high public health threat in the in tropical regions of the United States causing encephalitis in humans. Common symptoms of JCV include fever, headache, stiff neck, photophobia, nausea, vomiting, and seizures. Despite the availability of resources, there is currently no vaccine or drug available to combat JCV. The purpose of this study was to develop an epitope-based vaccine using immunoinformatics approaches. The vaccine aimed to be secure, efficient, bio-compatible, and capable of stimulating both innate and adaptive immune responses. In this study, the protein sequence of JCV was obtained from the NCBI database. Various bioinformatics methods, including toxicity evaluation, antigenicity testing, conservancy analysis, and allergenicity assessment were utilized to identify the most promising epitopes. Suitable linkers and adjuvant sequences were used in the design of vaccine construct. 50s ribosomal protein sequence was used as an adjuvant at the N-terminus of the construct. A total of 5 CTL, 5 HTL, and 5 linear B cell epitopes were selected based on non-allergenicity, immunological potential, and antigenicity scores to design a highly immunogenic multi-peptide vaccine construct. Strong interactions between the proposed vaccine and human immune receptors, i.e., TLR-2 and TLR-4, were revealed in a docking study using ClusPro software, suggesting their possible relevance in the immunological response to the vaccine. Immunological and physicochemical properties assessment ensured that the proposed vaccine demonstrated high immunogenicity, solubility and thermostability. Molecular dynamics simulations confirmed the strong binding affinities, as well as dynamic and structural stability of the proposed vaccine. Immune simulation suggest that the vaccine has the potential to effectively stimulate cellular and humoral immune responses to combat JCV infection. Experimental and clinical assays are required to validate the results of this study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Shahab
- State key laboratories of chemical Resources Engineering Beijing University of chemical technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Sara Aiman
- Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
| | - Abdulrahman Alshammari
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Post Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
| | - Abdullah F Alasmari
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Post Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
| | - Metab Alharbi
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Post Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
| | - Abbas Khan
- Deparment of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, PR China; School of Medical and Life Sciences, Sunway University, Sunway City, Malaysia.
| | - Dong-Qing Wei
- Deparment of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, PR China
| | - Guojun Zheng
- State key laboratories of chemical Resources Engineering Beijing University of chemical technology, Beijing 100029, China.
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Razali SA, Shamsir MS, Ishak NF, Low CF, Azemin WA. Riding the wave of innovation: immunoinformatics in fish disease control. PeerJ 2023; 11:e16419. [PMID: 38089909 PMCID: PMC10712311 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/17/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The spread of infectious illnesses has been a significant factor restricting aquaculture production. To maximise aquatic animal health, vaccination tactics are very successful and cost-efficient for protecting fish and aquaculture animals against many disease pathogens. However, due to the increasing number of immunological cases and their complexity, it is impossible to manage, analyse, visualise, and interpret such data without the assistance of advanced computational techniques. Hence, the use of immunoinformatics tools is crucial, as they not only facilitate the management of massive amounts of data but also greatly contribute to the creation of fresh hypotheses regarding immune responses. In recent years, advances in biotechnology and immunoinformatics have opened up new research avenues for generating novel vaccines and enhancing existing vaccinations against outbreaks of infectious illnesses, thereby reducing aquaculture losses. This review focuses on understanding in silico epitope-based vaccine design, the creation of multi-epitope vaccines, the molecular interaction of immunogenic vaccines, and the application of immunoinformatics in fish disease based on the frequency of their application and reliable results. It is believed that it can bridge the gap between experimental and computational approaches and reduce the need for experimental research, so that only wet laboratory testing integrated with in silico techniques may yield highly promising results and be useful for the development of vaccines for fish.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siti Aisyah Razali
- Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia
- Biological Security and Sustainability Research Interest Group (BIOSES), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia
| | - Mohd Shahir Shamsir
- Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
| | - Nur Farahin Ishak
- Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia
| | - Chen-Fei Low
- Institute of Systems Biology (INBIOSIS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Wan-Atirah Azemin
- School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
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Sura K, Rohilla H, Kumar D, Jakhar R, Ahlawat V, Kaushik D, Dangi M, Chhillar AK. Exploring structural antigens of yellow fever virus to design multi-epitope subunit vaccine candidate by utilizing an immuno-informatics approach. J Genet Eng Biotechnol 2023; 21:161. [PMID: 38051433 DOI: 10.1186/s43141-023-00621-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Yellow fever is a mosquito-borne viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by several species of virus-infected mosquitoes endemic to tropical regions of Central and South America and Africa. Earlier in the twentieth century, mass vaccination integrated with mosquito control was implemented to eradicate the yellow fever virus. However, regular outbreaks occur in these regions which pose a threat to travelers and residents of Africa and South America. There is no specific antiviral therapy, but there can be an effective peptide-based vaccine candidate to combat infection caused by the virus. Therefore, the study aims to design a multi-epitope-based subunit vaccine (MESV) construct against the yellow fever virus to reduce the time and cost using reverse vaccinology (RV) approach. METHODS Yellow fever virus contains 10,233 nucleotides that encode for 10 proteins (C, prM, E, NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, and NS5) including 3 structural and 7 non-structural proteins. Structural proteins-precursor membrane protein (prM) and envelope protein (E)-were taken as a target for B cell and T cell epitope screening. Further, various immunoinformatics approaches were employed to FASTA sequences of structural proteins to retrieve B cell and T cell epitopes. MESV was constructed from these epitopes based on allergenicity, antigenicity and immunogenicity, toxicity, conservancy, and population coverage followed by structure prediction. The efficacy of the MESV construct to bind with human TLR-3, TLR-4, and TLR-8 were evaluated using molecular docking and simulation studies. Finally, in-silico cloning of vaccine construct was performed withpBR322 Escherichia coli expression system using codon optimization. RESULTS Predicted epitopes evaluated and selected for MESV construction were found stable, non-allergenic, highly antigenic, and global population coverage of 68.03% according to in-silico analysis. However, this can be further tested in in-vitro and in-vivo investigations. Epitopes were sequentially merged to construct a MESV consisting of 393 amino acids using adjuvant and linkers. Molecular docking and simulation studies revealed stable and high-affinity interactions. Furthermore, in-silico immune response graphs showed effective immune response generation. Finally, higher CAI value ensured high gene expression of vaccine in the host cell. CONCLUSION The designed MESV construct in the present in-silico study can be effective in generating an immune response against the yellow fever virus. Therefore, to prevent yellow fever, it can be an effective vaccine candidate. However, further downstream, in-vitro study is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kiran Sura
- Centre for Bioinformatics, M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana, India
| | - Himanshi Rohilla
- Centre for Bioinformatics, M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana, India
| | - Dev Kumar
- Centre for Bioinformatics, M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana, India
| | - Ritu Jakhar
- Centre for Bioinformatics, M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana, India
| | - Vaishali Ahlawat
- Centre for Bioinformatics, M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana, India
- Centre for Biotechnology, M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana, India
| | | | - Mehak Dangi
- Centre for Bioinformatics, M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana, India.
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Pritam M. Exploring the whole proteome of monkeypox virus to design B cell epitope-based oral vaccines using immunoinformatics approaches. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 252:126498. [PMID: 37640189 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Revised: 08/05/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
In the last few months 85,536 cases and 91 deaths were reported for monkeypox disease from 110 and 71 locations from all over the world, correspondingly. The vaccines of other viruses that belong to the Poxviridae family were recommended for monkeypox. There is no licensed vaccine available for monkeypox that originated from monkeypox virus. In the present study, using the reverse vaccinology approach we have performed whole proteome analysis of monkeypox virus to screen out the potential antigenic proteins that can be used as vaccine candidates. We have also designed 12 B cell epitopes-based vaccine candidates using immunoinformatics approach. We have found a total 15 potential antigenic proteins out of which 14 antigens are novel and can be used for further vaccine development against monkeypox. We have performed the physicochemical properties, antigenic, immunogenic and allergenicity prediction of the designed vaccine candidates MPOXVs (MPOXV1-MPOXV12). Further, we have performed molecular docking, in silico immune simulation and cloning of MPOXVs. All MPOXVs are potential vaccine candidate that can potentially activate the innate, cellular, and humoral immune response. However, further experimental validation is required before moving to clinical trials. This is the first oral vaccine reported for monkeypox virus derived from monkeypox proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manisha Pritam
- Department of Biotechnology, AMITY University Lucknow Campus, India; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, MD, USA.
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Venkatesan A, Chouhan U, Suryawanshi SK, Choudhari JK. An in silico approach for prediction of B cell and T cell epitope candidates against Chikungunya virus. Immunol Med 2023; 46:163-174. [PMID: 37078425 DOI: 10.1080/25785826.2023.2202038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2023] [Indexed: 04/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Several outbreaks of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) had been reported since 1952 when mankind had his first encounter against the virus in Tanzania. Although these reports designate the CHIKV to be rarely fatal, cases of outbreaks in the last decade accompanied by severe complications and death poses a challenge to the development of effective treatment methods. Several attempts to vaccine development against CHIKV still remains unsuccessful. In this study, we aimed at the prediction of B-cell and T cell epitopes against CHIKV by using immunoinformatics. This, in turn, can contribute to development of an epitope based vaccine against CHIKV. Both linear and discontinuous B-cell epitopes, as well as Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte epitopes, were predicted for the CHIKV Envelope (E1 and E2) glycoproteins and (NS2). The antigenic CTL epitopes with highest binding affinities with type-1 MHC were selected and the peptides were docked to them. Docking followed by molecular dynamics simulations were performed to assess the stability of the docked complexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amrit Venkatesan
- Department of Mathematics, Bioinformatics & Computer Applications, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
| | - Usha Chouhan
- Department of Mathematics, Bioinformatics & Computer Applications, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
| | - Sunil Kumar Suryawanshi
- Department of Mathematics, Bioinformatics & Computer Applications, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
| | - Jyoti Kant Choudhari
- Department of Mathematics, Bioinformatics & Computer Applications, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
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Priyamvada P, Ramaiah S. Pan-genome and reverse vaccinology approaches to design multi-epitope vaccine against Epstein-Barr virus associated with colorectal cancer. Immunol Res 2023; 71:887-908. [PMID: 37423939 DOI: 10.1007/s12026-023-09403-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 07/11/2023]
Abstract
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a global lymphotropic virus and has been associated with various malignancies, among which colorectal cancer (CRC) is the prevalent one causing mortality worldwide. In the recent past, numerous research efforts have been made to develop a potential vaccine against this virus; however, none is effective possibly due to their low throughput, laboriousness, and lack of sensitivity. In this study, we designed a multi-epitope subunit vaccine that targets latent membrane protein (LMP-2B) of EBV using pan-genome and reverse vaccinology approaches. Twenty-three major histocompatibility complex (MHC) epitopes (five class-I and eighteen class-II) and eight B-cell epitopes, which have been found to be antigenic, immunogenic, and non-toxic, were selected for the vaccine construction. Furthermore, 24 vaccine constructs (VCs) were designed from the predicted epitopes and out of which VC1 was selected and finalized based on its structural parameters. The functionality of VC1 was validated through molecular docking with different immune receptors (MHC class-I, MHC class-II, and TLRs). The binding affinity, molecular and immune simulation revealed that the VC1 had more stable interaction and is believed to elicit good immune responses against EBV. HIGHLIGHTS: Pan-genome and reverse vaccinology approaches were used to design a multi-epitope subunit vaccine against LMP-2B protein of EBV. Epitopes were selected based on the antigenic, immunogenic, and non-toxic properties. Twenty-four vaccine constructs (VCs) were designed from the predicted epitopes. Designed vaccine VC1 has shown good binding affinity and molecular and immune simulation. VC1 was validated using molecular docking with different immune receptors.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Priyamvada
- Medical and Biological Computing Laboratory, School of Biosciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, 632014, Tamil Nadu, India
- Department of Bio-Sciences, School of Biosciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, 632014, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Sudha Ramaiah
- Medical and Biological Computing Laboratory, School of Biosciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, 632014, Tamil Nadu, India.
- Department of Bio-Sciences, School of Biosciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, 632014, Tamil Nadu, India.
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G P, Rathi B, Santoshi S. Translational and structural vaccinomics approach to design a multi-epitope vaccine against NOL4 autologous antigen of small cell lung cancer. Immunol Res 2023; 71:909-928. [PMID: 37410306 DOI: 10.1007/s12026-023-09404-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023]
Abstract
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is one of the most common cancers and it is the sixth common cause for cancer-related deaths. The high plasticity and metastasis have been a major challenge for humanity to treat the disease. Hence, a vaccine for SCLC has become an urgent need of the hour due to public health concern. Implementation of immunoinformatics technique is one of the best way to find a suitable vaccine candidate. Immunoinformatics tools can be used to overcome the limitations and difficulties of traditional vaccinological techniques. Multi-epitope cancer vaccines have become a next-generation technique in vaccinology which can be used to stimulate more potent immune response against a particular antigen by eliminating undesirable molecules. In this study, we used multiple computational and immunoinformatics approach to design a novel multi-epitope vaccine for small cell lung cancer. Nucleolar protein 4 (NOL4) is an autologous cancer-testis antigen overexpressed in SCLC cells. Seventy-five percent humoral immunity have been identified for this particular antigen. In this study, we mapped immunogenic cytotoxic T lymphocyte, helper T lymphocyte, and interferon-gamma epitopes present in NOL4 antigen and designed a multi-epitope-based vaccine using the predicted epitopes. The designed vaccine was antigenic, non-allergenic, and non-toxic with 100% applicability on human population. The chimeric vaccine construct showed stable and significant interaction with endosomal and plasmalemmal toll-like receptors in molecular docking and protein-peptide interaction analysis, thus assuring a strong potent immune response against the vaccine upon administration. Therefore, these preliminary results can be used to carry out further experimental investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pavithran G
- Amity Institute of Microbial Technology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India
| | - Bhawna Rathi
- Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India.
| | - Seneha Santoshi
- Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India
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Hashemzadeh P, Nezhad SA, Khoshkhabar H. Immunoinformatics analysis of Brucella melitensis to approach a suitable vaccine against brucellosis. J Genet Eng Biotechnol 2023; 21:152. [PMID: 38019359 PMCID: PMC10686926 DOI: 10.1186/s43141-023-00614-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 11/30/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Brucellosis caused by B. melitensis is one of the most important common diseases between humans and livestock. Currently, live attenuated vaccines are used for this disease, which causes many problems, and unfortunately, there is no effective vaccine for human brucellosis. The aim of our research was to design a recombinant vaccine containing potential immunogenic epitopes against B. melitensis. METHODS In this study, using immunoinformatics approaches, 3 antigens Omp31, Omp25, and Omp28 were identified and the amino acid sequence of the selected antigens was determined in NCBI. Signal peptides were predicted by SignaIP-5.0 server. To predict B-cell epitopes from ABCpred and Bcepred servers, to predict MHC-I epitopes from RANKPEP and SYFPEITHI servers, to predict MHC-II epitopes from RANKPEP and MHCPred servers, and to predict CTL epitopes were used from the CTLPred server. Potentially immunogenic final epitopes were joined by flexible linkers. Finally, allergenicity (AllerTOP 2.0 server), antigenicity (Vaxijen server), physicochemical properties (ProtParam server), solubility (Protein-sol server), secondary (PSIPRED and GRO4 servers) and tertiary structure (I-TASSER server), refinement (GalaxyWEB server), validation (ProSA-web, Molprobity, and ERRAT servers), and optimization of the codon sequence (JCat server) of the structure of the multi-epitope vaccine were analyzed. RESULTS The analysis of immunoinformatics tools showed that the designed vaccine has high quality, acceptable physicochemical properties, and can induce humoral and cellular immune responses against B. melitensis bacteria. In addition, the high expression level of recombinant antigens in the E. coli host was observed through in silico simulation. CONCLUSION According to the results in silico, the designed vaccine can be a suitable candidate to fight brucellosis and in vitro and in vivo studies are needed to evaluate the research of this study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pejman Hashemzadeh
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Lorestan, Iran.
| | - Saba Asgari Nezhad
- Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Lorestan, Iran
| | - Hossein Khoshkhabar
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Lorestan, Iran
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Debroy B, Chowdhury S, Pal K. Designing a novel and combinatorial multi-antigenic epitope-based vaccine "MarVax" against Marburg virus-a reverse vaccinology and immunoinformatics approach. J Genet Eng Biotechnol 2023; 21:143. [PMID: 38012426 PMCID: PMC10681968 DOI: 10.1186/s43141-023-00575-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/26/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
CONTEXT Marburg virus (MARV) is a member of the Filoviridae family and causes Marburg virus disease (MVD) among humans and primates. With fatality rates going up to 88%, there is currently no commercialized cure or vaccine to combat the infection. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) classified MARV as priority pathogen A, which presages the need for a vaccine candidate which can provide stable, long-term adaptive immunity. The surface glycoprotein (GP) and fusion protein (FP) mediate the adherence, fusion, and entry of the virus into the host cell via the TIM-I receptor. Being important antigenic determinants, studies reveal that GP and FP are prone to evolutionary mutations, underscoring the requirement of a vaccine construct capable of eliciting a robust and sustained immune response. In this computational study, a reverse vaccinology approach was employed to design a combinatorial vaccine from conserved and antigenic epitopes of essential viral proteins of MARV, namely GP, VP24, VP30, VP35, and VP40 along with an endogenous protein large polymerase (L). METHODS Epitopes for T-cell and B-cell were predicted using TepiTool and ElliPro, respectively. The surface-exposed TLRs like TLR2, TLR4, and TLR5 were used to screen high-binding affinity epitopes using the protein-peptide docking platform MdockPeP. The best binding epitopes were selected and assembled with linkers to design a recombinant multi-epitope vaccine construct which was then modeled in Robetta. The in silico biophysical and biochemical analyses of the recombinant vaccine were performed. The docking and MD simulation of the vaccine using WebGro and CABS-Flex against TLRs support the stable binding of vaccine candidates. A virtual immune simulation to check the immediate and long-term immunogenicity was carried out using the C-ImmSim server. RESULTS The biochemical characteristics and docking studies with MD simulation establish the recombinant protein vaccine construct MarVax as a stable, antigenic, and potent vaccine molecule. Immune simulation studies reveal 1-year passive immunity which needs to be validated by in vivo studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bishal Debroy
- Department of Biological Sciences, School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Adamas University, Barasat-Barrackpore Road, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700126, India
| | - Sribas Chowdhury
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Adamas University, Barasat-Barrackpore Road, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700126, India
| | - Kuntal Pal
- Cancer Biology Laboratory, Adamas University, Barasat-Barrackpore Road, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700126, India.
- School of Biosciences and Technology (SBST), Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, 632014, India.
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Bano N, Kumar A. Immunoinformatics study to explore dengue (DENV-1) proteome to design multi-epitope vaccine construct by using CD4+ epitopes. J Genet Eng Biotechnol 2023; 21:128. [PMID: 37987878 PMCID: PMC10663418 DOI: 10.1186/s43141-023-00592-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Immunoinformatics is an emerging interdisciplinary field which integrates immunology, bioinformatics, and computational biology to study the immune system. In this study, we apply immunoinformatics approaches to explore the dengue proteome in order to design a multi-epitope vaccine construct. METHODS We used existing databases and algorithms to predict potential epitopes on dengue proteins and used a bioinformatics approach to identify the most promising epitopes. We then used molecular modelling to develop a multi-epitope construct which could be used as a potential vaccine. The results of this study demonstrate that immunoinformatics is a powerful tool for exploring and designing potential vaccines for infectious diseases like dengue. RESULTS Here, we found four CD4+ epitopes NLKYSVIVTVHTGDQ, ANPIVTDKEKPVNIE, LDPVVYDAKFEKQL, and VGAIALDFKPGTSGS that were used to design vaccine construct. The vaccine construct docked with TLR5. RMSD values suggest that docked complex of TLR5 and vaccine construct have putative stable interaction to induce immunogenic effects on host. CONCLUSIONS Furthermore, our study provides a proof of concept for the use of immunoinformatics approaches in DENV vaccine design. This vaccine can be effective in treating patients infected with DENV virus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nishat Bano
- Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering and Technology Rama University, G.T. Road, Kanpur, 209217, India
| | - Ajay Kumar
- Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering and Technology Rama University, G.T. Road, Kanpur, 209217, India.
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Gao GF, Li P, Leonard WJ. Co-localization of clusters of TCR-regulated genes with TAD rearrangements. BMC Genomics 2023; 24:650. [PMID: 37898735 PMCID: PMC10613383 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-023-09693-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 09/21/2023] [Indexed: 10/30/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Gene expression has long been known to be influenced by the relative proximity of DNA regulatory elements. Topologically associating domains (TADs) are self-interacting genomic regions involved in regulating gene expression by controlling the proximity of these elements. Prior studies of TADs and their biological roles have revealed correlations between TAD changes and cellular differentiation. Here, we used Hi-C and RNA-seq data to correlate TCR-induced changes in TAD structure and gene expression in human CD4+ T cells. RESULTS We developed a pipeline, Differentially Expressed Gene Enrichment Finder (DEGEF), that identifies regions of differentially expressed gene enrichment. Using DEGEF, we found that TCR-regulated genes cluster non-uniformly across the genome and that these clusters preferentially localized in regions of TAD rearrangement. Interestingly, clusters of upregulated genes preferentially formed new Hi-C contacts compared to downregulated clusters, suggesting that TCR-activated CD4+ T cells may regulate genes by changing stimulatory contacts rather than inhibitory contacts. CONCLUSIONS Our observations support a significant relationship between TAD rearrangements and changes in local gene expression. These findings indicate potentially important roles for TAD rearrangements in shaping their local regulatory environments and thus driving differential expression of nearby genes during CD4+ T cell activation. Moreover, they provide new insights into global mechanisms that regulate gene expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Galen F Gao
- Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and the Immunology Center, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892-1674, USA
| | - Peng Li
- Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and the Immunology Center, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892-1674, USA
| | - Warren J Leonard
- Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and the Immunology Center, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892-1674, USA.
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Sarkar A, Santra D, Sundar Panja A, Maiti S. Immunoinformatics and MD-simulation data suggest that Omicron spike epitopes are more interacting to IgG via better MHC recognition than Delta variant. Int Immunopharmacol 2023; 123:110636. [PMID: 37499394 DOI: 10.1016/j.intimp.2023.110636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Revised: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 07/09/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recently, in Nov 2021, in South Africa, the SARS CoV-2 variant Omicron was found to be highly infectious and transmissible but with the least fatality. It occupies the nasopharynx-oropharynx and easily spreads. The epidemiological data/reports suggest that several vaccines failed to neutralize Omicron. It has a large number of spike mutations and the RNA/protein vaccines were developed from its predecessors that may justify its escape in most neutralization reactions. Its lower immuno-suppression/cytokine-storming/inflammatory-response effects need exploration. OBJECTIVES In the current study, we attempted to delineate the comparative interaction of different variants' spikes with multiple recognition sites on IgG and HLA-typing of MHC class and I and II. METHODS All SARS-CoV-2 spike-proteins/human-IgG/MHC-I & II were obtained from the NCBI/ PDB/GISAID database. Initial 3D-structures of the unavailable proteins were constructed by Homology-Modeling (Swissmodel-Expasy) and optimized (PROCHECK). Molecular-docking of spike-IgG/spike- I & MHC-II was performed (HADDOCK2.4/HawkDock) with active-residue screening (CPORT). Antigenicity of epitopes was determined (Vaxigen v2.0-server) and the epitope-model prepared (PEP-FOLD3-server). The binding-affinity/biological-interfaces/visualize were performed (PRODIGY-PyMOL2). We also examined the genesis of feasible transition pathways of functional docked complexes (iMODs) of MHC with different epitopes and antibodies of IgG with different variants. Further, Molecular-Dynamic-Simulation was performed by GROMACS 2023.1 software package. The MD-simulation was run with 100 ns (300 k-heating/1-atm pressure). RESULTS Surface-area with interactomes, H-bonding and polar/non-polar bonding were the highest in Omicron spike-IgG interaction. Unlike other variants, both the L and H chains of at least three different recognition sites of IgG interact with the N-terminal and C-terminal RBD of the S1-portion and partially bind to S2. In other cases, binding was observed in either NTD or CTD with a lesser number of bonding-interactomes, especially in Delta spike-Ab interaction. In the case of MHC class-I & II, the highest binding affinity/surface was noticed by Omicron and least by the Delta variant. The MD simulation data of lower RMSD values of the Delta and Omicron variants indicate improved structural stability and less departure from the initial conformation. Better binding to the IgG and MHC molecules explains Omicron's little ability in immune invasion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aniket Sarkar
- Post-Graduate Department of Biotechnology, Oriental Institute of Science and Technology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore 721102, West Bengal, India
| | - Dipannita Santra
- Post-Graduate Department of Biotechnology, Oriental Institute of Science and Technology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore 721102, West Bengal, India
| | - Anindya Sundar Panja
- Department of Biotechnology, Molecular Informatics Laboratory, Oriental Institute of Science and Technology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal 721102, India
| | - Smarajit Maiti
- Post-Graduate Department of Biotechnology, Oriental Institute of Science and Technology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore 721102, West Bengal, India; Agricure Biotech Research Society, Midnapore, 721101, India.
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Khan S, Aziz S, Waqas M, Kakar MA, Ahmad S. Targeted vaccine development against Bilophila wadsworthia to curb colon diseases: A multiepitope approach based on reverse vaccinology and computational analysis. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 250:126002. [PMID: 37506789 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 07/22/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023]
Abstract
The presence of excessive hydrogen sulfide (H2S)-producing bacteria, particularly Bilophila wadsworthia in appendices, is linked to a weaker colonic mucus barrier, inflammatory bowel disease, and colorectal cancer. Thus, targeting this bacterium could reduce sulfide levels and address associated health concerns. Here, we utilized reverse vaccinology and immunoinformatics to design a chimeric vaccine against B. wadsworthia, focusing on membrane-bound and extracellular proteins. Subtractive proteome analysis identified 18 potential vaccine candidates (PVCs), from which six B-cell, eight CD8+ T cell, and six CD4+ T cell epitopes were predicted. Chosen epitopes were assessed for immunological properties and cross-reactivity with human and mouse proteomes. Subsequently, these epitopes were fused with appropriate linkers, PADRE epitope, TAT peptide, and Cholera Toxin B subunit adjuvant to form a robust multi-epitope vaccine (MEV). The MEV's tertiary structure was modelled and validated for reliable analysis. Molecular docking and dynamics simulations demonstrated stable binding of MEV with Toll-like receptor 4. The MEV showed favorable physicochemical characteristics, high expression potential in Escherichia coli, broad population coverage (∼98 %), and cross-protection against different B. wadsworthia strains. Immune simulation suggested induction of strong B and T cell responses, including primary, secondary, and tertiary immune responses. Further experimental studies are necessary to validate these findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Khan
- Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25130, Pakistan
| | - Shahkaar Aziz
- Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25130, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Waqas
- Department of Biotechnology and genetic Engineering, Hazara University, Mansehra 21120, Pakistan; Natural and Medical Sciences Research Center, University of Nizwa, Birkat-ul-Mouz 616, Nizwa, Oman
| | | | - Sohail Ahmad
- Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25130, Pakistan.
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Farzan M, Farzan M, Mirzaei Y, Aiman S, Azadegan-Dehkordi F, Bagheri N. Immunoinformatics-based multi-epitope vaccine design for the re-emerging monkeypox virus. Int Immunopharmacol 2023; 123:110725. [PMID: 37556996 DOI: 10.1016/j.intimp.2023.110725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Revised: 07/25/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND On May 7, 2022, WHO reported a new monkeypox case. By May 2023 over 80,000 cases had been reported worldwide outside previously endemic nations. (This primarily affected the men who have sex with men (MSM) community in rich nations). The present research aims to develop a multi-epitope vaccine for the monkeypox virus (MPXV) using structural and cell surface proteins. METHODS The first part of the research involved retrieving protein sequences. The Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) was then used to analyze the B and T lymphocyte epitopes. After analyzing the sensitizing properties, toxicity, antigenicity, and molecular binding, appropriate linkers were utilizedto connect selected epitopes to adjuvants, and the structure of the vaccine was formulated. Algorithms from the field of immunoinformatics predicted the secondary and tertiary structures of vaccines. The physical, chemical, and structural properties were refined and validated to achieve maximum stability. Molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulations were subsequently employed to assess the vaccine's efficacy. Afterward, the ability of the vaccine to interact with toll-like receptors 3 and 4 (TLR3 and TLR4) was evaluated. Finally, the optimized sequence was then introduced into the Escherichia coli (E. coli) PET30A + vector. RESULTS An immunoinformatics evaluation suggested that such a vaccine might be safe revealed that this vaccine is safe, hydrophilic, temperature- and condition-stable, and can stimulate innate immunity by binding to TLR3 and TLR4. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that the first step in MPXV pathogenesis is structural and cell surface epitopes. In this study, the most effective and promising epitopes were selected and designed throughprecision servers. Furthermore,through the utilization of multi-epitope structures and a combination of two established adjuvants, this research has the potential to be a landmarkin developing an antiviralvaccine against MPXV. However, additional in vitro and in vivo tests are required to confirm these results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahour Farzan
- Medical Plants Research Center, Basic Health Sciences Institute, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran; Student Research Committee, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
| | - Mahan Farzan
- Medical Plants Research Center, Basic Health Sciences Institute, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran; Student Research Committee, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
| | - Yousef Mirzaei
- Department of Medical Biochemical Analysis, Cihan University-Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
| | - Sara Aiman
- Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
| | - Fatemeh Azadegan-Dehkordi
- Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Basic Health Sciences Institute, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran.
| | - Nader Bagheri
- Clinical Biochemistry Research Center, Basic Health Sciences Institute, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran.
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Chaleshtori ZA, Rastegari AA, Nayeri H, Doosti A. Use of immunoinformatics and the simulation approach to identify Helicobacter pylori epitopes to design a multi-epitope subunit vaccine for B- and T-cells. BMC Biotechnol 2023; 23:42. [PMID: 37759228 PMCID: PMC10537100 DOI: 10.1186/s12896-023-00814-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 09/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Helicobacter pylori cause a variety of gastric malignancies, gastric ulcers, and cause erosive diseases. The extreme nature of the bacterium and the implantation of this bacterium protects it against designing a potent drug against it. Therefore, employing a precise and effective design for a more safe and stable antigenic vaccine against this pathogen can effectively control its associated infections. This study, aimed at improving the design of multiple subunit vaccines against H. pylori, adopts multiple immunoinformatics approaches in combination with other computational approaches. RESULTS In this regard, 10 HTL, and 11 CTL epitopes were employed based on appropriate adopted MHC binding scores and c-terminal cut-off scores of 4 main selected proteins (APO, LeoA, IceA1, and IceA2). An adjuvant was added to the N end of the vaccine to achieve higher stability. For validation, immunogenicity and sensitization of physicochemical analyses were performed. The vaccine could be antigenic with significantly strong interactions with TOLK-2, 4, 5, and 9 receptors. The designed vaccine was subjected to Gromacs simulation and immune response prediction modelling that confirmed expression and immune-stimulating response efficiency. Besides, the designed vaccine showed better interactions with TLK-9. CONCLUSIONS Based on our analyses, although the suggested vaccine could induce a clear response against H. pylori, precise laboratory validation is required to confirm its immunogenicity and safety status.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ali Asghar Rastegari
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biochemistry, Falavarjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.
| | - Hashem Nayeri
- Department of Biochemistry, Falavarjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
| | - Abbas Doosti
- Biotechnology Research Center, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran
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Vandoren R, Gielis S, Laukens K, Meysman P. Identification of TCR repertoire patterns linked with anti-cancer immunotherapy. Methods Cell Biol 2023; 183:115-142. [PMID: 38548409 DOI: 10.1016/bs.mcb.2023.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
The highly diverse T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire is a crucial component of the adaptive immune system that aids in the protection against a wide variety of pathogens. This TCR repertoire, comprising the collection of all TCRs in an individual, is a valuable source of information on both recent and ongoing T cell activation. Cancer cells, like pathogens, have the ability to trigger an adaptive immune response. However, because cancer cells use a variety of strategies to escape immune responses, this is often insufficient to completely eradicate them. As a result, immunotherapy is a promising treatment option for cancer patients. This treatment is expected to increase T cell activation and subsequently alter the TCR repertoire composition in these patients. Monitoring TCR repertoires before and after immunotherapy can therefore provide additional insight into T cell responses and might identify cancer-associated TCR sequences. Here we present a computational strategy to identify those changes in the TCR repertoire that occur after treatment with immunotherapy. Since this method allows the identification of TCR patterns that might be treatment-associated, it can help future research by revealing those patterns that are related with response. This TCR analysis workflow is illustrated using public data from three different cancer patients who received anti-PD-1 treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romi Vandoren
- Adrem Data Lab, Department of Computer Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Sofie Gielis
- Adrem Data Lab, Department of Computer Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Kris Laukens
- Adrem Data Lab, Department of Computer Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Pieter Meysman
- Adrem Data Lab, Department of Computer Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
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Keshri AK, Kaur R, Rawat SS, Arora N, Pandey RK, Kumbhar BV, Mishra A, Tripathi S, Prasad A. Designing and development of multi-epitope chimeric vaccine against Helicobacter pylori by exploring its entire immunogenic epitopes: an immunoinformatic approach. BMC Bioinformatics 2023; 24:358. [PMID: 37740175 PMCID: PMC10517479 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-023-05454-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/24/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Helicobacter pylori is a prominent causative agent of gastric ulceration, gastric adenocarcinoma and gastric lymphoma and have been categorised as a group 1 carcinogen by WHO. The treatment of H. pylori with proton pump inhibitors and antibiotics is effective but also leads to increased antibiotic resistance, patient dissatisfaction, and chances of reinfection. Therefore, an effective vaccine remains the most suitable prophylactic option for mass administration against this infection. RESULTS We modelled a multi-chimera subunit vaccine candidate against H. pylori by screening its secretory/outer membrane proteins. We identified B-cell, MHC-II and IFN-γ-inducing epitopes within these proteins. The population coverage, antigenicity, physiochemical properties and secondary structure were evaluated using different in-silico tools, which showed it can be a good and effective vaccine candidate. The 3-D construct was predicted, refined, validated and docked with TLRs. Finally, we performed the molecular docking/simulation and immune simulation studies to validate the stability of interaction and in-silico cloned the epitope sequences into a pET28b(+) plasmid vector. CONCLUSION The multiepitope-constructed vaccine contains T- cells, B-cells along with IFN-γ inducing epitopes that have the property to generate good cell-mediated immunity and humoral response. This vaccine can protect most of the world's population. The docking study and immune simulation revealed a good binding with TLRs and cell-mediated and humoral immune responses, respectively. Overall, we attempted to design a multiepitope vaccine and expect this vaccine will show an encouraging result against H. pylori infection in in-vivo use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anand K Keshri
- School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Mandi, 175005, India
| | - Rimanpreet Kaur
- School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Mandi, 175005, India
| | - Suraj S Rawat
- School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Mandi, 175005, India
| | - Naina Arora
- School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Mandi, 175005, India
| | - Rajan K Pandey
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institute, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Amit Mishra
- Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology Unit, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 342011, India
| | - Shweta Tripathi
- School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Mandi, 175005, India.
| | - Amit Prasad
- School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Mandi, 175005, India.
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Mishra SK, Priya P, Rai GP, Haque R, Shanker A. Coevolution based immunoinformatics approach considering variability of epitopes to combat different strains: A case study using spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. Comput Biol Med 2023; 163:107233. [PMID: 37422941 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2023.107233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Revised: 06/03/2023] [Accepted: 07/01/2023] [Indexed: 07/11/2023]
Abstract
In the recent past several vaccines were developed to combat the COVID-19 disease. Unfortunately, the protective efficacy of the current vaccines has been reduced due to the high mutation rate in SARS-CoV-2. Here, we successfully implemented a coevolution based immunoinformatics approach to design an epitope-based peptide vaccine considering variability in spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. The spike glycoprotein was investigated for B- and T-cell epitope prediction. Identified T-cell epitopes were mapped on previously reported coevolving amino acids in the spike protein to introduce mutation. The non-mutated and mutated vaccine components were constructed by selecting epitopes showing overlapping with the predicted B-cell epitopes and highest antigenicity. Selected epitopes were linked with the help of a linker to construct a single vaccine component. Non-mutated and mutated vaccine component sequences were modelled and validated. The in-silico expression level of the vaccine constructs (non-mutated and mutated) in E. coli K12 shows promising results. The molecular docking analysis of vaccine components with toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5) demonstrated strong binding affinity. The time series calculations including root mean square deviation (RMSD), radius of gyration (RGYR), and energy of the system over 100 ns trajectory obtained from all atom molecular dynamics simulation showed stability of the system. The combined coevolutionary and immunoinformatics approach used in this study will certainly help to design an effective peptide vaccine that may work against different strains of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, the strategy used in this study can be implemented on other pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saurav Kumar Mishra
- Department of Bioinformatics, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya, Bihar, India
| | - Prerna Priya
- Department of Botany, Purnea Mahila College, Purnia, Bihar, India
| | - Gyan Prakash Rai
- Department of Bioinformatics, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya, Bihar, India
| | - Rizwanul Haque
- Department of Biotechnology, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya, Bihar, India
| | - Asheesh Shanker
- Department of Bioinformatics, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya, Bihar, India.
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Mohammadzadeh Hosseini Moghri SAH, Ranjbar M, Hassannia H, Khakdan F. In silico analysis of the conserved surface-exposed epitopes to design novel multiepitope peptide vaccine for all variants of the SARS-CoV-2. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2023; 41:7603-7615. [PMID: 36124826 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2022.2123395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/04/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Recently the prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a pervasive threat to generic health. The SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) glycoprotein plays a fundamental role in binds and fusion to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The multi-epitope peptide vaccines would be able to elicit both long-lasting humoral and cellular immune responses, resulting the eliminating SARS-CoV-2 infections as asymptomatic patients are in large numbers. Recently, the omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 became a variant of concern that contained just 15-point mutations in the receptor-binding domain of the spike protein. In order to eliminate new evidence on coronavirus variants of concern detected through epidemic intelligence, the conserved epitopes of the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and spike cleavage site is the most probable target for vaccine development to inducing binds and fusion inhibitors neutralizing antibodies respectively. In this study, we utilized bioinformatics tools for identifying and analyzing the spike (S) glycoprotein sequence, e.g. the prediction of the potential linear B-cell epitopes, B-cell multi‑epitope design, secondary and tertiary structures, physicochemical properties, solubility, antigenicity, allergenicity, the molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation for the promising vaccine candidate against all variant of concern of SARS-CoV-2. Among the epitopes of the RBD region are surface-exposed epitopes SVYAWNRKRISNCV and ATRFASVYAWNRKR as the conserved sequences in all variants of concern can be a good candidate to induce an immune response.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mojtaba Ranjbar
- Microbial Biotechnology Department, Faculty of Biotechnology, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Amol, Islamic Republic of Iran
| | - Hadi Hassannia
- Immunogenetic Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran
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40
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Dey J, Mahapatra SR, Singh PK, Prabhuswamimath SC, Misra N, Suar M. Designing of multi-epitope peptide vaccine against Acinetobacter baumannii through combined immunoinformatics and protein interaction-based approaches. Immunol Res 2023; 71:639-662. [PMID: 37022613 PMCID: PMC10078064 DOI: 10.1007/s12026-023-09374-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2023] [Indexed: 04/07/2023]
Abstract
Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the major pathogenic ESKAPE bacterium, which is responsible for about more than 722,000 cases in a year, globally. Despite the alarming increase in multidrug resistance, a safe and effective vaccine for Acinetobacter infections is still not available. Hence in the current study, a multiepitope vaccine construct was developed using linear B cell, cytotoxic T cell, and helper T cell epitopes from the antigenic and well-conserved lipopolysaccharide assembly proteins employing systematic immunoinformatics and structural vaccinology strategies. The multi-peptide vaccine was predicted to be highly antigenic, non-allergenic, non-toxic, and cover maximum population coverage worldwide. Further, the vaccine construct was modeled along with adjuvant and peptide linkers and validated to achieve a high-quality three-dimensional structure which was subsequently utilized for cytokine prediction, disulfide engineering, and docking analyses with Toll-like receptor (TLR4). Ramachandran plot showed 98.3% of the residues were located in the most favorable and permitted regions, thereby corroborating the feasibility of the modeled vaccine construct. Molecular dynamics simulation for a 100 ns timeframe further confirmed the stability of the binding vaccine-receptor complex. Finally, in silico cloning and codon adaptation were also performed with the pET28a (+) plasmid vector to determine the efficiency of expression and translation of the vaccine. Immune simulation studies demonstrated that the vaccine could trigger both B and T cell responses and can elicit strong primary, secondary, and tertiary immune responses. The designed multi-peptide subunit vaccine would certainly expedite the experimental approach for the development of a vaccine against A. baumannii infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jyotirmayee Dey
- School of Biotechnology, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Deemed to be University, -751024, Bhubaneswar, India
| | - Soumya Ranjan Mahapatra
- School of Biotechnology, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Deemed to be University, -751024, Bhubaneswar, India
| | | | - Samudyata C Prabhuswamimath
- Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, -570015, Mysuru, Karnataka, India
| | - Namrata Misra
- School of Biotechnology, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Deemed to be University, -751024, Bhubaneswar, India.
- KIIT-Technology Business Incubator (KIIT-TBI), Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Deemed to be University, -751024, Bhubaneswar, India.
| | - Mrutyunjay Suar
- School of Biotechnology, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Deemed to be University, -751024, Bhubaneswar, India.
- KIIT-Technology Business Incubator (KIIT-TBI), Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Deemed to be University, -751024, Bhubaneswar, India.
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Yousaf H, Naz A, Zaman N, Hassan M, Obaid A, Awan FM, Azam SS. Immunoinformatic and reverse vaccinology-based designing of potent multi-epitope vaccine against Marburgvirus targeting the glycoprotein. Heliyon 2023; 9:e18059. [PMID: 37534001 PMCID: PMC10391973 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2022] [Revised: 06/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 08/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Marburg virus (MARV) has been a major concern since its first outbreak in 1967. Although the deadly BSL-4 pathogen has been reported in few individuals with sporadic outbreaks following 1967, its rarity commensurate the degree of disease severity. The virus has been known to cause extreme hemorrhagic fever presenting flu-like symptoms (as implicated in COVID-19) with a 90% case fatality rate (CFR). After a number of plausible evidences, it has been observed that the virus usually originates from African fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus, who themselves do not indicate any signs of illness. Thus, efforts have been made in the recent years for a universal treatment of the infection, but till date, no such vaccine or therapeutics could circumvent the viral pathogenicity. In an attempt to formulate a vaccine design computationally, we have explored the entire proteome of the virus and found a strong correlation of its glycoprotein (GP) in receptor binding and subsequent role in infection progression. The present study, explores the MARV glycoprotein GP1 and GP2 domains for quality epitopes to elicit an extended immune response design potential vaccine construct using appropriate linkers and adjuvants. Finally, the chimeric vaccine wass evaluated for its binding affinity towards the receptors via molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation studies. The rare, yet deadly zoonotic infection with mild outbreaks in recent years has flustered an alarming future with various challenges in terms of viral diseases. Thus, our study has aimed to provide novel insights to design potential vaccines by using the predictive framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hassan Yousaf
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), The University of Lahore (UOL), Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Anam Naz
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), The University of Lahore (UOL), Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Naila Zaman
- Computational Biology Lab, National Center for Bioinformatics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Mubashir Hassan
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), The University of Lahore (UOL), Lahore, Pakistan
- The Steve and Cindy Rasmussen Institute for Genomic Medicine, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, 43205, USA
| | - Ayesha Obaid
- Department of Medical Lab Technology, The University of Haripur, Haripur, Pakistan
| | - Faryal Mehwish Awan
- Department of Medical Lab Technology, The University of Haripur, Haripur, Pakistan
| | - Syed Sikander Azam
- Computational Biology Lab, National Center for Bioinformatics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
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Madlala T, Adeleke VT, Okpeku M, Tshilwane SI, Adeniyi AA, Adeleke MA. Screening of apical membrane antigen-1 (AMA1), dense granule protein-7 (GRA7) and rhoptry protein-16 (ROP16) antigens for a potential vaccine candidate against Toxoplasma gondii for chickens. Vaccine X 2023; 14:100347. [PMID: 37519774 PMCID: PMC10384181 DOI: 10.1016/j.jvacx.2023.100347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2022] [Revised: 06/23/2023] [Accepted: 07/06/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii known to infect almost all animals, including birds and humans globally. This disease has impacted the livestock industry and public health, where infection of domestic animals increases the zoonotic risk of transmission of infection to humans, threatening public health. Hence the need to discover novel and safe vaccines to fight against toxoplasmosis. In the current study, a novel multiepitope vaccine was designed using immunoinformatics techniques targeting T. gondii AMA1, GRA7 and ROP16 antigens, consisting of antigenic, immunogenic, non-allergenic and cytokine inducing T-cell (9 CD8+ and 15 CD4+) epitopes and four (4) B-cell epitopes fused together using AAY, KK and GPGPG linkers. The tertiary model of the proposed vaccine was predicted and validated to confirm the structural quality of the vaccine. The designed vaccine was highly antigenic (antigenicity = 0.6645), immunogenic (score = 2.89998), with molecular weight of 73.35 kDa, instability and aliphatic index of 28.70 and 64.10, respectively; and GRAVY of -0.363. The binding interaction, stability and flexibility were assessed with molecular docking and dynamics simulation, which revealed the proposed vaccine to have good structural interaction (binding affinity = -106.882 kcal/mol) and stability when docked with Toll like receptor-4 (TLR4). The results revealed that the Profilin-adjuvanted vaccine is promising, as it predicted induction of enhanced immune responses through the production of cytokines and antibodies critical in blocking host invasion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thabile Madlala
- Discipline of Genetics, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, P/Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa
| | - Victoria T. Adeleke
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Mangosuthu University of Technology, Durban 4031, South Africa
| | - Moses Okpeku
- Discipline of Genetics, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, P/Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa
| | - Selaelo I. Tshilwane
- Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
| | - Adebayo A. Adeniyi
- Department of Industrial Chemistry, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, P.O Box 370111, Nigeria
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
| | - Matthew A. Adeleke
- Discipline of Genetics, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, P/Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa
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Repac J, Božić B, Božić Nedeljković B. Microbes as triggers and boosters of Type 1 Diabetes - Mediation by molecular mimicry. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2023:110824. [PMID: 37429362 DOI: 10.1016/j.diabres.2023.110824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Revised: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 07/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023]
Abstract
AIMS Type 1 diabetes is characterized by steadily increasing incidence and largely obscured pathogenesis. Molecular mimicry is well-established as trigger for different autoimmune pathologies, but obscurely explored in the context of T1D. The presented study explores the underestimated role of molecular mimicry in T1D-etiology/progression in search for etiologic factors among human pathogens and commensals. METHODS A comprehensive immunoinformatics analysis of T1D-specific experimental T-cell epitopes across bacterial, fungal, and viral proteomes was performed, coupled with MHC-restricted mimotope validation and docking of most potent epitopes/mimotopes to T1D-high-risk MHCII molecules. In addition, re-analysis of the publicly available T1D-microbiota dataset was performed, including samples at the pre-T1D disease stage. RESULTS A number of bacterial pathogens/commensals were tagged as putative T1D triggers/boosters, including ubiquitous gut residents. The prediction of most likely mimicked epitopes revealed heat-shock proteins as most potent autoantigens for autoreactive T-cell priming via molecular mimicry. Docking revealed analogous interactions for predicted bacterial mimotopes and corresponding experimental epitopes. Finally, re-analysis of T1D gut microbiota datasets prompted pre-T1D as most significantly different/dysbiotic, compared to other explored categories (T1D stage/controls). CONCLUSIONS Obtained results support the unrecognized role of molecular mimicry in T1D, suggesting that autoreactive T-cell priming might be the triggering factor of disease development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jelana Repac
- University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology, Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry "Ivan Djaja", Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Bojan Božić
- University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology, Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry "Ivan Djaja", Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Biljana Božić Nedeljković
- University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology, Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry "Ivan Djaja", Belgrade, Serbia.
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Dinata R, Baindara P. Laterosporulin25: A probiotically produced, novel defensin-like bacteriocin and its immunogenic properties. Int Immunopharmacol 2023; 121:110500. [PMID: 37352569 DOI: 10.1016/j.intimp.2023.110500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Revised: 06/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/25/2023]
Abstract
Although multiple vaccines have been developed against infectious diseases, the rapid emergence of new pathogens develops an urgent need for novel strategies to combat infectious diseases. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are excellent agents to fight against infectious diseases having unique multiple mechanisms of action against various pathogens. Apart from the direct applications, AMPs can also be developed as subunit vaccines or could be used as a highly immunogenic carrier protein with highly antigenic but non-immunogenic antigens. Here in the present study, we have identified a novel defensin-like bacteriocin, laterosporulin25 (LS25) upon genome mining of Brevibacillus laterosporus DSM25, a probiotic bacterial strain. By using immunoinformatic tools, we have studied the immunogenic and physiochemical properties of LS25. LS25 is characterized as defensin-like bacteriocin, having 51 amino acids and a molecular weight of 5862.7 Da. The modeled tertiary structure of LS25 is docked with TLR3 and TLR4-MD2 complex to confirm the facilitation of induced immune response that is further validated using molecular dynamics simulations and In-silico immune stimulations. Overall, detailed immunoinformatics analysis suggested LS25 as a potential candidate to be used as an adjuvant or carrier protein for subunit vaccine development, however, further in-vitro and in-vivo experiments are essential to validate its potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roy Dinata
- Department of Zoology, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram 796004, India
| | - Piyush Baindara
- Department of Radiation Oncology, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
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Dhanushkumar T, Kamaraj B, Vasudevan K, Gopikrishnan M, Dasegowda KR, Rambabu M, George Priya Doss C. Structural immunoinformatics approach for rational design of a multi-epitope vaccine against triple negative breast cancer. Int J Biol Macromol 2023:125209. [PMID: 37271264 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2023] [Revised: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 06/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
TNBC is a highly malignant breast cancer known for its aggressive behavior affecting young female adults. The standard treatment for TNBC includes surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, which often have significant side effects. Therefore, novel preventive methods are required to combat TNBC effectively. In this study, we utilized immunoinformatics to construct an in-silico vaccine against TNBC using the TRIM25 molecule via the reverse vaccinology method. Four vaccines were designed by generating T and B-cell epitopes linked with four different linkers. The modeled vaccine was docked and the results showed that vaccine-3 exhibited the highest affinity with the immune receptors. The molecular dynamics results revealed that the binding affinity and stability of Vaccine-3 were greater than those of Vaccine 2 complexes. This study has great potential preventive measures for TNBC, and further research is warranted to evaluate its efficacy in preclinical settings. This study presents an innovative preventive strategy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) through immunoinformatics and reverse vaccinology to develop an in-silico vaccine. Leveraging these innovative techniques offers a novel avenue for combating the complex challenges associated with TNBC. This approach demonstrates considerable potential as a significant breakthrough in preventive measures for this particularly aggressive and malignant form of breast cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Dhanushkumar
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Balu Kamaraj
- Department of Dental Education, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
| | - Karthick Vasudevan
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India.
| | - Mohanraj Gopikrishnan
- Laboratory of Integrative Genomics, Department of Integrative Biology, School of BioSciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, India
| | - K R Dasegowda
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Majji Rambabu
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - C George Priya Doss
- Laboratory of Integrative Genomics, Department of Integrative Biology, School of BioSciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, India.
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Moustafa RI, Faraag AHI, El-Shenawy R, Agwa MM, Elsayed H. Harnessing immunoinformatics for developing a multiple-epitope peptide-based vaccination approach against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Saudi J Biol Sci 2023; 30:103661. [PMID: 37163156 PMCID: PMC10141799 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2023.103661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Revised: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 05/11/2023] Open
Abstract
COVID-19 has spread to over 200 countries with variable severity and mortality rates. Computational analysis is a valuable tool for developing B-cell and T-cell epitope-based vaccines. In this study, by harnessing immunoinformatics tools, we designed a multiple-epitope vaccine to protect against COVID-19. The candidate epitopes were designed from highly conserved regions of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) glycoprotein. The consensus amino acids sequence of ten SARS-CoV-2 variants including Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Delta, Alpha, Kappa, Iota, Lambda, Mu, and Omicron was involved. Applying the multiple sequence alignment plugin and the antigenic prediction tools of Geneious prime 2021, ten predicted variants were identified and consensus S-protein sequences were used to predict the antigenic part. According to ElliPro analysis of S-protein B-cell prediction, we explored 22 continuous linear epitopes with high scores ranging from 0.879 to 0.522. First, we reported five promising epitopes: BE1 1115-1192, BE2 481-563, BE3 287-313, BE4 62-75, and BE5 112-131 with antigenicity scores of 0.879, 0.86, 0.813, 0.779, and 0.765, respectively, while only nine discontinuous epitopes scored between 0.971 and 0.511. Next, we identified 194 Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) - I and 156 MHC - II epitopes with antigenic characteristics. These spike-specific peptide-epitopes with characteristically high immunogenic and antigenic scores have the potential as a SARS-CoV-2 multiple-epitope peptide-based vaccination strategy. Nevertheless, further experimental investigations are needed to test for the vaccine efficacy and efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rehab I Moustafa
- Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Centre, Egypt
| | - Ahmed H I Faraag
- Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Egypt
- School of Biotechnology, Badr University in Cairo, Egypt
| | | | - Mona M Agwa
- Department of Chemistry of Natural and Microbial Products, Pharmaceutical and Drug Industries Research Institute, National Research Centre, Egypt
| | - Hassan Elsayed
- Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Centre, Egypt
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Fahira A, Amin RS, Arshad U, Khan MI, Shah Syed AA, Alshammari A, Yang Q, Wang Z, Ali L, Shi Y. Chimeric vaccine design against the epidemic Langya Henipavirus using immunoinformatics and validation via immune simulation approaches. Heliyon 2023; 9:e17376. [PMID: 37484358 PMCID: PMC10361368 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2023] [Revised: 06/03/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023] Open
Abstract
In July 2022, a new virus called Langya virus (LayV) was discovered in China in patients who had a fever. This virus is a type of Henipavirus (HNV) and is considered a potential threat as it could spread from animals to humans. It causes respiratory disease with symptoms including fever, coughing, and fatigue and is closely linked to two other henipaviruses that are known to infect humans, namely Hendra and Nipah viruses. These viruses may cause fatal respiratory illnesses. Investigators believe that the LayV is spread by shrews, and may have infected humans directly or via an intermediary species. Thus, the use of vaccines or immunizations against LayV is an alternate strategy for disease prevention. In this study, we employed various immunoinformatics methods to predict B cell, HTL and T cell epitopes from the LayV proteome in order to find the most promising candidate for a LayV vaccine. The most potent epitopes that are immunogenic and non-allergenic were joined with each other through suitable linkers. Human β-defensin 2 was employed as an adjuvant to increase the immunogenicity of the vaccine construct. The final sequence of a multi-epitope vaccine construct was modelled for docking with TLRs. Concisely, our results suggest that the docked complexes of vaccine-TLRs seemed to be stable. Additionally, in silico cloning was done using E. coli as the host in order to validate the expression of our designed vaccine construct. The GC content of 54.39% and CAI value of 0.94 revealed that the vaccine component expresses efficiently in the host. This study presents the novel vaccine construct for LayV which will be essential for further experimental validations to confirm the immunogenicity and safety of the proposed vaccine structure, and eventually to treat HNV-related diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aamir Fahira
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Collaborative Innovation Centre for Brain Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
- The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, The Biomedical Sciences Institute of Qingdao University (Qingdao Branch of SJTU Bio-X Institutes), Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
| | | | - Uzma Arshad
- Gujranwala Medical College, Gujranwala, Punjab, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Idrees Khan
- School of Sensing Science and Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Ali Alamdar Shah Syed
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Collaborative Innovation Centre for Brain Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Abdulrahman Alshammari
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
| | - Qiangzhen Yang
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Collaborative Innovation Centre for Brain Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhuo Wang
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Collaborative Innovation Centre for Brain Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
- The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, The Biomedical Sciences Institute of Qingdao University (Qingdao Branch of SJTU Bio-X Institutes), Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
| | - Liaqat Ali
- Fisch College of Pharmacy, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX, USA
| | - Yongyong Shi
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Collaborative Innovation Centre for Brain Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
- The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, The Biomedical Sciences Institute of Qingdao University (Qingdao Branch of SJTU Bio-X Institutes), Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
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48
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Shawan MMAK, Sharma AR, Halder SK, Arian TA, Shuvo MN, Sarker SR, Hasan MA. Advances in Computational and Bioinformatics Tools and Databases for Designing and Developing a Multi-Epitope-Based Peptide Vaccine. Int J Pept Res Ther 2023; 29:60. [PMID: 37251529 PMCID: PMC10203685 DOI: 10.1007/s10989-023-10535-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
A vaccine is defined as a biologic preparation that trains the immune system, boosts immunity, and protects against a deadly microbial infection. They have been used for centuries to combat a variety of contagious illnesses by means of subsiding the disease burden as well as eradicating the disease. Since infectious disease pandemics are a recurring global threat, vaccination has emerged as one of the most promising tools to save millions of lives and reduce infection rates. The World Health Organization reports that immunization protects three million individuals annually. Currently, multi-epitope-based peptide vaccines are a unique concept in vaccine formulation. Epitope-based peptide vaccines utilize small fragments of proteins or peptides (parts of the pathogen), called epitopes, that trigger an adequate immune response against a particular pathogen. However, conventional vaccine designing and development techniques are too cumbersome, expensive, and time-consuming. With the recent advancement in bioinformatics, immunoinformatics, and vaccinomics discipline, vaccine science has entered a new era accompanying a modern, impressive, and more realistic paradigm in designing and developing next-generation strong immunogens. In silico designing and developing a safe and novel vaccine construct involves knowledge of reverse vaccinology, various vaccine databases, and high throughput techniques. The computational tools and techniques directly associated with vaccine research are extremely effective, economical, precise, robust, and safe for human use. Many vaccine candidates have entered clinical trials instantly and are available prior to schedule. In light of this, the present article provides researchers with up-to-date information on various approaches, protocols, and databases regarding the computational designing and development of potent multi-epitope-based peptide vaccines that can assist researchers in tailoring vaccines more rapidly and cost-effectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Mahfuz Ali Khan Shawan
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, 1342 Bangladesh
| | - Ashish Ranjan Sharma
- Institute for Skeletal Aging & Orthopedic Surgery, Hallym University-Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital, Chuncheon-si, 24252 Gangwon-do Republic of Korea
| | - Sajal Kumar Halder
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, 1342 Bangladesh
| | - Tawsif Al Arian
- Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, 1342 Bangladesh
| | - Md. Nazmussakib Shuvo
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, 1342 Bangladesh
| | - Satya Ranjan Sarker
- Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, 1342 Bangladesh
| | - Md. Ashraful Hasan
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, 1342 Bangladesh
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Nasir SN, Iftikhar A, Zubair F, Alshammari A, Alharbi M, Alasmari AF, Khan A, Waseem M, Ali SS, Ali L, Waheed Y, Wei DQ. Structural vaccinology-based design of multi-epitopes vaccine against Streptococcus gordonii and validation using molecular modeling and immune simulation approaches. Heliyon 2023; 9:e16148. [PMID: 37234653 PMCID: PMC10208844 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Revised: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 05/07/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Streptococcus gordonii is an oral bacterium colonizing the dental cavity and leading to plaque formation. This pervasive colonizer is also the etiologic agent of bacterial endocarditis and has a major role in infective endocarditis. The bacteria reach the heart through oral bleeding, leading to inflammation of cardiovascular valves. Over the past 50 years, it has shown a significant pathogenic role in immunocompromised and neutropenic patients. Since antibiotic resistance has created prophylaxis failure towards infective endocarditis, a potent therapeutic candidate is needed. Therefore, multi-epitopes vaccine offers advantages over the other approaches. Thus, herein, numerous molecular-omics tools were exploited to mine immunogenic peptides, i.e., T-cell and B-cell epitopes, and construct a vaccine sequence. Our findings revealed a total of 24 epitopes, including CTL, HTL, and B-cell are responsible for imparting immune responses, which were combined with the help of different linkers, and MEVC was constructed. Multifactorial validation of the candidate vaccine was performed to minimize the risk factors. The final sequence was docked with TLR2 to validate its conformation compatibility with receptor and long-term interactions stability. Our analysis revealed that the vaccine construct is immunogenic and non-allergenic. The construct also established various contacts with the immune receptor. Finally, the vaccine sequence was reverse-translated, optimized for codon usage, and analyzed for expression in the Escherichia coli K12 strain. Maximum expression was noted with a CAI score of 0.95. In silico immune simulation revealed that the antigen was neutralized on the 3rd day after injection. In conclusion, the current study warrants validation of the vaccine construct both in in vitro and in vivo models for accurate therapeutic intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Syed Nouman Nasir
- National Center for Bioinformatics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Punjab, Pakistan
| | - Ayesha Iftikhar
- Government Khwaja Muhammad Safdar Medical College, Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan
| | - Farukh Zubair
- Rashid Latif Medical College, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
| | - Abdulrahman Alshammari
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Post Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia
| | - Metab Alharbi
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Post Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia
| | - Abdullah F. Alasmari
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Post Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia
| | - Abbas Khan
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biological Statistics, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, PR China
- Zhongjing Research and Industrialization Institute of Chinese Medicine, Zhongguancun Scientific Park, Meixi, Nayang, Henan, 473006, PR China
| | - Muhammad Waseem
- Faculty of Rehabilitation and Allied Health Science, Riphah International University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Syed Shujait Ali
- National Center for Bioinformatics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Punjab, Pakistan
| | - Liaqat Ali
- Fisch College of Pharmacy, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX, USA
| | - Yasir Waheed
- Office of Research, Innovation, and Commercialization (ORIC), Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU), Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan
- Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine, Lebanese American University, Byblos, 1401, Lebanon
| | - Dong-Qing Wei
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biological Statistics, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, PR China
- Zhongjing Research and Industrialization Institute of Chinese Medicine, Zhongguancun Scientific Park, Meixi, Nayang, Henan, 473006, PR China
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50
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Jafari Najaf Abadi MH, Abyaneh FA, Zare N, Zamani J, Abdoli A, Aslanbeigi F, Hamblin MR, Tarrahimofrad H, Rahimi M, Hashemian SM, Mirzaei H. In silico design and immunoinformatics analysis of a chimeric vaccine construct based on Salmonella pathogenesis factors. Microb Pathog 2023; 180:106130. [PMID: 37121524 DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2023.106130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2023] [Revised: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 04/27/2023] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
Currently, there are two vaccines based on killed and/or weakened Salmonella bacteria, but no recombinant vaccine is available for preventing or treating the disease. We used an in silico approach to design a multi-epitope vaccine against Salmonella using OmpA, OmpS, SopB, SseB, SthA and FilC antigens. We predicted helper T lymphocyte, cytotoxic T lymphocyte, and IFN-γ epitopes. The FilC sequence was used as a bovine TLR5 agonist, and the linkers KK, AAY, GPGPG and EAAAK were used to connect epitopes. The final sequence consisted of 747 amino acid residues, and the expressed soluble protein (∼79.6 kDa) was predicted to be both non-allergenic and antigenic. The tertiary structure of modeled protein was refined and validated, and the interactions of vaccine 3D structure were evaluated using molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulation (RMSD, RMSF and Gyration). This structurally stable protein could interact with human TLR5. The C-ImmSim server predicted that this proposed vaccine likely induces an immune response by stimulating T and B cells, making it a potential candidate for further evaluation for the prevention and treatment of Salmonella infection.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Noushid Zare
- Faculty of Pharmacy, International Campus, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran
| | - Javad Zamani
- Department of Animal Biotechnology, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB), Tehran, Iran
| | - Amirhossein Abdoli
- School of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran; Student Research Committee, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
| | - Fatemeh Aslanbeigi
- School of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran; Student Research Committee, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
| | - Michael R Hamblin
- Laser Research Centre, Faculty of Health Science, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein, 2028, South Africa
| | - Hossein Tarrahimofrad
- Department of Animal Biotechnology, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB), Tehran, Iran.
| | - Mohammadreza Rahimi
- Infectious Diseases Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
| | - Seyed Mohammadreza Hashemian
- Chronic Respiratory Diseases Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 1983535511, Iran.
| | - Hamed Mirzaei
- Research Center for Biochemistry and Nutrition in Metabolic Diseases, Institute for Basic Sciences, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
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