Seven gene signature explores the impact of DAAs on the appearance of hepatocellular carcinoma in HCV infected patients

Bioinformatics analysis of multi-epitope peptide vaccines against Hepatitis C virus: a molecular docking study

BACKGROUND

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection is one of the causal agents of liver disease burden. Six multiple antigenic peptides were synthesized including (P315, P412, and P517) plus (P1771, P2121, and P2941) to induce humoral and cellular responses, respectively against HCV infection.

AIM

This paper aimed to employ computational tools to evaluate the efficacy of each peptide individually and to determine the most effective one for better vaccine development and/or immunotherapy.

METHODS

VaxiJen web and AllerTOP servers were used for antigenicity and allergenicity prediction, respectively. The ToxinPred web server was used to investigate the peptide toxicity. Each peptide was docked with its corresponding receptors.

RESULTS

No peptides were expected to be toxic. P315 and P2941 are predicted to have robust antigenic properties, lowest allergenicity, and minimal sOPEP energies. In turn, P315 (derived from gpE1) formed the highest hydrophobic bonds with the BCR and CD81 receptors that will elicit B cell function. P2941 (derived from NS5B) was shown to strongly bind to both CD4 and CD8 receptors that will elicit T cell function.

CONCLUSION

P315 successfully bound to B cell (BCR and CD81) receptors. Also, P2941 is strongly bound to T cell (CD4 and CD8) receptors.

Recognition of 7 genes signature (Cirrhosis Risk Score) in the diagnosed non-responders to DAAs therapy by intra-PBMCs nested HCV RNA PCR

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Predictors of chronic HCV response to oral antiviral therapy (OAT) are related to host genetic variations. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and alleles variations of host genes in association with hepatic fibro-cirrhotic changes have a distinct role in OAT outcomes. The current research evaluated the association of Cirrhosis-Risk-Scores (CRS) values, based on the correlation of seven genes signature-SNPs, with sonographic liver parenchymal changes in determining OAT outcomes.

METHODS

All study subjects (n = 54) were recruited three months after completing OAT and classified into three groups. Group I (n = 21) had negative HCV PCR, group II (n = 17) showed positive solitary intra-PBMCs HCV infection, and group III(n = 16) was serum HCV RNA PCR-positive. All study-population were subjected to examination by hepatic-ultrasound (US), FIB-4-scoring, and screening for 7 gene-signature that addressed CRS values as low, intermediate, and high depending on gene SNPs identification.

RESULTS

Group I showed a significant association with low CRS values compared to other groups (P < 0.001). Solitary intra- PBMCs HCV infection in group II was significantly combined with intermediate CRS values in comparison to groups I and III (P < 0.001). The high CRS values were significantly found in group III when compared to groups I and II (P < 0.01). On US imaging, low CRS values were common in normally appeared hepatic parenchyma (P < 0.001) and high CRS values were frequent in coarse-liver (P < 0.001), while bright-liver-tissues appearance was mainly detected in the intermediate CRS category (P = 0.09). On FIB-4 scoring, high CRS value were associated with hepatic fibro-cirrhosis compared to intermediate (P < 0.001) and low (P = 0.08) CRS-categories.

CONCLUSION

The current study concluded the association of (a) high CRS values with coarse liver in viral-RNA serologic relapse, (b) low CRS values with normal liver tissues in sustained virologic response (SVR), (c) intermediate CRS values with bright liver in solitary PBMCs relapse.