Advanced In Silico Tools for Designing of Antigenic Epitope as Potential Vaccine Candidates Against Coronavirus
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Shanker A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7120312 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Single stranded RNA viruses were known to cause variety of diseases since many years and are gaining much importance due to pandemic after the identification of a novel corona virus (severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)). Seven coronaviruses (CoVs) are known to infect humans and they are OC43 CoV, NL63 CoV, HKU1 CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome, SARS CoV, and SARS CoV-2. Virus replication weakens the immune system of host thereby altering T-cell count and much of interferon response. Although no vaccine or therapeutic treatment has been approved till now for CoV infection, trials of vaccine against SARS CoV-2 are in progress. One of the epitopes used for vaccine production is of the spike protein on the surface of virus. The work focuses on designing of multi-epitope vaccine construct for treatment of seven human CoV infections using the epitopes present on the spike protein of human CoVs. To address this, immuno-informatics techniques have been employed to design multi-epitope vaccine construct. B- and T-cell epitopes of the spike proteins have been predicted and designed into a multi-epitope vaccine construct. The tertiary structure of the vaccine construct along with the adjuvant has been modelled and the physiochemical properties have been predicted. The multi-epitope vaccine construct has antigenic and non-allergenic property. After validation, refinement and disulphide engineering of the vaccine construct, molecular docking with toll-like receptors (TLRs) have been performed. Molecular dynamics simulation in aqueous environment predicted that the vaccine-TLRs complexes were stable. The vaccine construct is predicted to be able to trigger primary immune response in silico. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Project description:Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has persisted as a major public health problem due to the lack of an effective treatment for those chronically infected. Therapeutic vaccination holds promise, and targeting HBV polymerase is pivotal for viral eradication. In this research, a computational approach was employed to predict suitable HBV polymerase targeting multi-peptides for vaccine candidate selection. We then performed in-depth computational analysis to evaluate the predicted epitopes' immunogenicity, conservation, population coverage, and toxicity. Lastly, molecular docking and MHC-peptide complex stabilization assay were utilized to determine the binding energy and affinity of epitopes to the HLA-A0201 molecule. Criteria-based analysis provided four predicted epitopes, RVTGGVFLV, VSIPWTHKV, YMDDVVLGA and HLYSHPIIL. Assay results indicated the lowest binding energy and high affinity to the HLA-A0201 molecule for epitopes VSIPWTHKV and YMDDVVLGA and epitopes RVTGGVFLV and VSIPWTHKV, respectively. Regions 307 to 320 and 377 to 387 were considered to have the highest probability to be involved in B cell epitopes. The T cell and B cell epitopes identified in this study are promising targets for an epitope-focused, peptide-based HBV vaccine, and provide insight into HBV-induced immune response.
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Project description:Clostridium difficile is a spore-forming gram-positive bacterium, recognized as the primary cause of antibiotic-associated nosocomial diarrhoea. Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has emerged as a major health-associated infection with increased incidence and hospitalization over the years with high mortality rates. Contamination and infection occur after ingestion of vegetative spores, which germinate in the gastro-intestinal tract. The surface layer protein and flagellar proteins are responsible for the bacterial colonization while the spore coat protein, is associated with spore colonization. Both these factors are the main concern of the recurrence of CDI in hospitalized patients. In this study, the CotE, SlpA and FliC proteins are chosen to form a multivalent, multi-epitopic, chimeric vaccine candidate using the immunoinformatics approach. The overall reliability of the candidate vaccine was validated in silico and the molecular dynamics simulation verified the stability of the vaccine designed. Docking studies showed stable vaccine interactions with Toll-Like Receptors of innate immune cells and MHC receptors. In silico codon optimization of the vaccine and its insertion in the cloning vector indicates a competent expression of the modelled vaccine in E. coli expression system. An in silico immune simulation system evaluated the effectiveness of the candidate vaccine to trigger a protective immune response.
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Project description:COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in 16,114,449 cases with 646,641 deaths from the 217 countries, or territories as on July 27th 2020. Due to multifaceted issues and challenges in the implementation of the safety and preventive measures, inconsistent coordination between societies-governments and most importantly lack of specific vaccine to SARS-CoV-2, the spread of the virus that initially emerged at Wuhan is still uprising after taking a heavy toll on human life. In the present study, we mapped immunogenic epitopes present on the four structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 and we designed a multi-epitope peptide based vaccine that, demonstrated a high immunogenic response with a vast application on world's human population. On codon optimization and in-silico cloning, we found that candidate vaccine showed high expression in E. coli and immune simulation resulted in inducing a high level of both B-cell and T-cell mediated immunity. The results predicted that exposure of vaccine by administrating three injections significantly subsidized the antigen growth in the system. The proposed candidate vaccine found promising by yielding desired results and hence, should be validated by practical experimentations for its functioning and efficacy to neutralize SARS-CoV-2.
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