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Sehgal A, Sharma D, Kaushal N, Gupta Y, Martynova E, Kabwe E, Chandy S, Rizvanov A, Khaiboullina S, Baranwal M. Designing a Conserved Immunogenic Peptide Construct from the Nucleocapsid Protein of Puumala orthohantavirus. Viruses 2024; 16:1030. [PMID: 39066193 PMCID: PMC11281540 DOI: 10.3390/v16071030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2024] [Revised: 06/09/2024] [Accepted: 06/21/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Puumala orthohantavirus (PUUV) is an emerging zoonotic virus endemic to Europe and Russia that causes nephropathia epidemica, a mild form of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). There are limited options for treatment and diagnosis of orthohantavirus infection, making the search for potential immunogenic candidates crucial. In the present work, various bioinformatics tools were employed to design conserved immunogenic peptides containing multiple epitopes of PUUV nucleocapsid protein. Eleven conserved peptides (90% conservancy) of the PUUV nucleocapsid protein were identified. Three conserved peptides containing multiple T and B cell epitopes were selected using a consensus epitope prediction algorithm. Molecular docking using the HPEP dock server demonstrated strong binding interactions between the epitopes and HLA molecules (ten alleles for each class I and II HLA). Moreover, an analysis of population coverage using the IEDB database revealed that the identified peptides have over 90% average population coverage across six continents. Molecular docking and simulation analysis reveal a stable interaction with peptide constructs of chosen immunogenic peptides and Toll-like receptor-4. These computational analyses demonstrate selected peptides' immunogenic potential, which needs to be validated in different experimental systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayushi Sehgal
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala 147001, India; (A.S.); (D.S.); (N.K.); (Y.G.)
| | - Diksha Sharma
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala 147001, India; (A.S.); (D.S.); (N.K.); (Y.G.)
| | - Neha Kaushal
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala 147001, India; (A.S.); (D.S.); (N.K.); (Y.G.)
| | - Yogita Gupta
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala 147001, India; (A.S.); (D.S.); (N.K.); (Y.G.)
| | - Ekaterina Martynova
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Kazan 420008, Russia; (E.M.); (E.K.); (S.K.)
| | - Emmanuel Kabwe
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Kazan 420008, Russia; (E.M.); (E.K.); (S.K.)
| | - Sara Chandy
- Childs Trust Medical Research Foundation (CTMRF) Kanchi, Chennai 600034, India;
| | - Albert Rizvanov
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Kazan 420008, Russia; (E.M.); (E.K.); (S.K.)
| | - Svetlana Khaiboullina
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Kazan 420008, Russia; (E.M.); (E.K.); (S.K.)
| | - Manoj Baranwal
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala 147001, India; (A.S.); (D.S.); (N.K.); (Y.G.)
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Kumari S, Kessel A, Singhal D, Kaur G, Bern D, Lemay-St-Denis C, Singh J, Jain S. Computational identification of a multi-peptide vaccine candidate in E2 glycoprotein against diverse Hepatitis C virus genotypes. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2023; 41:11044-11061. [PMID: 37194293 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2023.2212777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/11/2022] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is estimated to affect nearly 180 million people worldwide, culminating in ∼0.7 million yearly casualties. However, a safe vaccine against HCV is not yet available. This study endeavored to identify a multi-genotypic, multi-epitopic, safe, and globally competent HCV vaccine candidate. We employed a consensus epitope prediction strategy to identify multi-epitopic peptides in all known envelope glycoprotein (E2) sequences, belonging to diverse HCV genotypes. The obtained peptides were screened for toxicity, allergenicity, autoimmunity and antigenicity, resulting in two favorable peptides viz., P2 (VYCFTPSPVVVG) and P3 (YRLWHYPCTV). Evolutionary conservation analysis indicated that P2 and P3 are highly conserved, supporting their use as part of a designed multi-genotypic vaccine. Population coverage analysis revealed that P2 and P3 are likely to be presented by >89% Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) molecules from six geographical regions. Indeed, molecular docking predicted the physical binding of P2 and P3 to various representative HLAs. We designed a vaccine construct using these peptides and assessed its binding to toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) by molecular docking and simulation. Subsequent analysis by energy-based and machine learning tools predicted high binding affinity and pinpointed the key binding residues (i.e. hotspots) in P2 and P3. Also, a favorable immunogenic profile of the construct was predicted by immune simulations. We encourage the scientific community to validate our vaccine construct in vitro and in vivo.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shweta Kumari
- University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, India
| | - Amit Kessel
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Divya Singhal
- University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, India
| | - Gurpreet Kaur
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab, India
| | - David Bern
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Claudèle Lemay-St-Denis
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- PROTEO, The Québec Network for Research on Protein, Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC, Canada
- CGCC, Center in Green Chemistry and Catalysis, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Jasdeep Singh
- University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, India
| | - Sahil Jain
- University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, India
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Verma J, Kaushal N, Manish M, Subbarao N, Shakirova V, Martynova E, Liu R, Hamza S, Rizvanov AA, Khaiboullina SF, Baranwal M. Identification of conserved immunogenic peptides of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2023:1-17. [PMID: 37750540 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2023.2260484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/13/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023]
Abstract
The emergence of the new SARS-CoV-2 variants has led to major concern regarding the efficacy of approved vaccines. Nucleocapsid is a conserved structural protein essential for replication of the virus. This study focuses on identifying conserved epitopes on the nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV-2. Using 510 unique amino acid sequences of SARS-CoV-2 N protein, two peptides (193 and 215 aa) with 90% conservancy were selected for T cell epitope prediction. Three immunogenic peptides containing multiple T cell epitopes were identified which were devoid of autoimmune and allergic immune response. These peptides were also conserved (100%) in recent Omicron variants reported in Jan-August 2023. HLA analysis reveals that these peptides are predicted as binding to large number of HLA alleles and 71-90% population coverage in six continents. Identified peptides displayed good binding score with both HLA class I and HLA class II molecules in the docking study. Also, a vaccine construct docked with TLR-4 receptor displays strong interaction with 20 hydrogen bonds and molecular simulation analysis reveals that docked complex are stable. Additionally, the immunogenicity of these N protein peptides was confirmed using SARS-CoV-2 convalescent serum samples. We conclude that the identified N protein peptides contain highly conserved and antigenic epitopes which could be used as a target for the future vaccine development against SARS-CoV-2.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jigyasa Verma
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India
| | - Neha Kaushal
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India
| | - Manish Manish
- School of Computational & Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Naidu Subbarao
- School of Computational & Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Venera Shakirova
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Kazan State Medical Academy, Kazan, Russia
| | - Ekaterina Martynova
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia
| | - Rongzeng Liu
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, China
| | - Shaimaa Hamza
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia
| | - Albert A Rizvanov
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia
| | | | - Manoj Baranwal
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India
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4
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Santoni D. Peptide Hamming Graphs: A network representation of peptides presented through specific HLAs to identify potential epitope clusters. J Immunol Methods 2023; 517:113474. [PMID: 37068621 DOI: 10.1016/j.jim.2023.113474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2022] [Revised: 03/28/2023] [Accepted: 04/12/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Class I Major Histocompatibility Complex plays a critical role in the adaptive immune response by binding to peptides processed by Proteasome and Transporter associated with antigen processing complex and presenting them on the cell surface to cytotoxic T-cells. Understanding the process of peptide presentation and studying how presented peptides are distributed in the huge space of all potential epitopes could have a dramatic impact in the context of vaccine design, transplantation, autoimmunity, and cancer development. METHODS In the present work we propose a graph-driven approach to investigate the landscape of both self (human) and viral (254 organisms) peptides presented on cell surface through class I Major Histocompatibility Complex considering specific HLAs. For each considered HLA (N = 89) we designed a network, namely Peptide Hamming Graph, where nodes are peptides predicted to be presented by a given HLA and an edge is set when the Hamming distance between two peptides is equal or smaller than 2 (i.e. the same amino acid occurs in at least 7 positions of the two sequences). RESULTS Through the analysis of Peptide Hamming Graphs we studied how predicted presented peptides are distributed in the whole configurational space for different HLAs, identifying sets of viral peptides that can constitute a potential target for the immune system. In particular we selected connected components of the graph made exclusively of viral peptides and sets of viral peptides with high node degree interacting exclusively with viral neighbours. CONCLUSIONS This work constitutes an innovative approach to study potential cytotoxic T-cell epitopes relying on a network approach, overcoming the classical paradigm based on the identification of potential epitopes only considering their features as single peptides. T-cell cross-reactivity plays a focal role for the efficacy of this strategy increasing the probability of recognition, and consequently a stronger immune response, of presented peptides far from self, sharing a common pattern in terms of sequence similarity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniele Santoni
- Institute for System Analysis and Computer Science "Antonio Ruberti", National Research Council of Italy, Via dei Taurini 19, Rome 00185, Italy.
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5
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Jain S, Khaiboullina S, Martynova E, Morzunov S, Baranwal M. Epidemiology of Ebolaviruses from an Etiological Perspective. Pathogens 2023; 12:248. [PMID: 36839520 PMCID: PMC9963726 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens12020248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Revised: 01/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/29/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Since the inception of the ebolavirus in 1976, 32 outbreaks have resulted in nearly 15,350 deaths in more than ten countries of the African continent. In the last decade, the largest (2013-2016) and second largest (2018-2020) ebolavirus outbreaks have occurred in West Africa (mainly Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, respectively. The 2013-2016 outbreak indicated an alarming geographical spread of the virus and was the first to qualify as an epidemic. Hence, it is imperative to halt ebolavirus progression and develop effective countermeasures. Despite several research efforts, ebolaviruses' natural hosts and secondary reservoirs still elude the scientific world. The primary source responsible for infecting the index case is also unknown for most outbreaks. In this review, we summarize the history of ebolavirus outbreaks with a focus on etiology, natural hosts, zoonotic reservoirs, and transmission mechanisms. We also discuss the reasons why the African continent is the most affected region and identify steps to contain this virus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahil Jain
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala 147004, Punjab, India
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 6997801, Israel
| | - Svetlana Khaiboullina
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal University, 420008 Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia
| | - Ekaterina Martynova
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal University, 420008 Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia
| | - Sergey Morzunov
- Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
| | - Manoj Baranwal
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala 147004, Punjab, India
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Vivekanandam R, Rajagopalan K, Jeevanandam M, Ganesan H, Jagannathan V, Selvan Christyraj JD, Kalimuthu K, Selvan Christyraj JRS, Mohan M. Designing of cytotoxic T lymphocyte-based multi-epitope vaccine against SARS-CoV2: a reverse vaccinology approach. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2022; 40:13711-13726. [PMID: 34696708 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2021.1993338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
SARS-CoV2 is a single-stranded RNA virus, gaining much attention after it out broke in China in December 2019. The virus rapidly spread to several countries around the world and caused severe respiratory illness to humans. Since the outbreak, researchers around the world have devoted maximum resources and effort to develop a potent vaccine that would offer protection to uninfected individuals against SARS-CoV2. Reverse vaccinology is a relatively new approach that thrives faster in vaccine research. In this study, we constructed Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes (CTL)-based multi-epitope vaccine using hybrid epitope prediction methods. A total of 121 immunogenic CTL epitopes were screened by various sequence-based prediction methods and docked with their respective HLA alleles using the AutoDock Vina v1.1.2. In all, 17 epitopes were selected based on their binding affinity, followed by the construction of multi-epitope vaccine by placing the appropriate linkers between the epitopes and tuberculosis heparin-binding hemagglutinin (HBHA) adjuvant. The final vaccine construct was modeled by the I-TASSER server and the best model was further validated by ERRAT, ProSA, and PROCHECK servers. Furthermore, the molecular interaction of the constructed vaccine with TLR4 was assessed by ClusPro 2.0 and PROtein binDIng enerGY prediction (PRODIGY) server. The immune simulation analysis confirms that the constructed vaccine was capable of inducing long-lasting memory T helper (Th) and CTL responses. Finally, the nucleotide sequence was codon-optimized by the JCAT tool and cloned into the pET21a (+) vector. The current results reveal that the candidate vaccine is capable of provoking robust CTL response against the SARS-CoV2.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reethu Vivekanandam
- Department of Biotechnology, Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
| | - Kamarajan Rajagopalan
- Regeneration and Stem Cell Biology Lab, Centre for Molecular and Nanomedical Sciences, International Research Centre, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
| | - Madesh Jeevanandam
- Department of Biochemistry, PSG college of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
| | - Harsha Ganesan
- Chettinad Academy of Research and Education (CARE), Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute (CHRI), Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
| | - Vaishnavi Jagannathan
- Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB), Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
| | - Jackson Durairaj Selvan Christyraj
- Regeneration and Stem Cell Biology Lab, Centre for Molecular and Nanomedical Sciences, International Research Centre, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
| | - Kalishwaralal Kalimuthu
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Johnson Retnaraj Samuel Selvan Christyraj
- Regeneration and Stem Cell Biology Lab, Centre for Molecular and Nanomedical Sciences, International Research Centre, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
| | - Manikandan Mohan
- Vaxigen International Research Center Private Limited, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India.,Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
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Kaushal N, Jain S, Baranwal M. Computational design of immunogenic peptide constructs comprising multiple HLA restricted Dengue virus envelope epitopes. J Mol Recognit 2022; 35:e2961. [PMID: 35514257 DOI: 10.1002/jmr.2961] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Revised: 02/01/2022] [Accepted: 05/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Dengue virus (DENV) is endemic in 100 countries with ability to impact nearly 50% of world population. DENV envelope (E) protein is responsible for viral attachment to host cells and has been target of various countermeasure development efforts. The current study focuses on a consensus computational approach to identify cross-reactive, immunogenic DENV-2 E peptides displaying promiscuity with a wide array of HLA molecules. Four conserved peptides (FP-1, FP-2, FP-3 and FP-4) containing multiple CD8+ and CD4+ T cell epitopes were identified by employment of various immunoinformatics tools. FP-1, FP-2, FP-3 and FP-4 were estimated to bind with 227, 1787, 1008 and 834 HLA alleles respectively. RMSD values obtained by Molecular docking (CABS-Dock) with 20 HLA alleles (10 each of HLA class I and II) resulted into comparable RMSD values of identified epitopes with native peptides which represents the natural presentation of epitopes to HLA molecules. These peptides were also found to be part of previous experimentally validated immunogenic peptides. Further, a dengue immunogenic peptide construct was generated by linking the four peptides, an adjuvant and a 6x histidine tag. The construct showed strong binding and stability with Toll-like receptor (TLR4). Collectively, these results provide strong evidence in the support of the immunogenic potential of the dengue immunogenic peptide construct. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neha Kaushal
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab, India
| | - Sahil Jain
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab, India.,University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, India
| | - Manoj Baranwal
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab, India
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8
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Structural and Functional Aspects of Ebola Virus Proteins. Pathogens 2021; 10:pathogens10101330. [PMID: 34684279 PMCID: PMC8538763 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens10101330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2021] [Revised: 10/11/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Ebola virus (EBOV), member of genus Ebolavirus, family Filoviridae, have a non-segmented, single-stranded RNA that contains seven genes: (a) nucleoprotein (NP), (b) viral protein 35 (VP35), (c) VP40, (d) glycoprotein (GP), (e) VP30, (f) VP24, and (g) RNA polymerase (L). All genes encode for one protein each except GP, producing three pre-proteins due to the transcriptional editing. These pre-proteins are translated into four products, namely: (a) soluble secreted glycoprotein (sGP), (b) Δ-peptide, (c) full-length transmembrane spike glycoprotein (GP), and (d) soluble small secreted glycoprotein (ssGP). Further, shed GP is released from infected cells due to cleavage of GP by tumor necrosis factor α-converting enzyme (TACE). This review presents a detailed discussion on various functional aspects of all EBOV proteins and their residues. An introduction to ebolaviruses and their life cycle is also provided for clarity of the available analysis. We believe that this review will help understand the roles played by different EBOV proteins in the pathogenesis of the disease. It will help in targeting significant protein residues for therapeutic and multi-protein/peptide vaccine development.
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Immunoinformatics aided design of peptide-based vaccines against ebolaviruses. VITAMINS AND HORMONES 2021; 117:157-187. [PMID: 34420579 DOI: 10.1016/bs.vh.2021.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Ebolaviruses are at the forefront of emerging viruses and present a very perceptible threat to global peace and harmony. In the last decade, Ebola virus disease has claimed more than 90% of total lives since its inception in 1976. Owing to multiple host immune evasion methods employed by the virus and the limitations of traditional vaccine development approaches, finding a globally effective and reliable counter measure against Ebola virus remains a challenge. Highly conserved peptide fragments belonging to critical viral proteins and containing multiple epitopes which have the capacity to interact with a wide array of HLA molecules present a viable solution. Immunoinformatics or computational immunology enables rapid screening and shortlisting of plausible epitopes with a high immunogenic potential, thus, supporting expeditious elucidation of efficacious vaccine candidates. In light of above facts, we describe a computational methodology in this chapter for identification of potent peptide vaccine candidates against human infecting viruses. By applying this stringent methodology, we were able to identify multiple, immunogenic ebolavirus peptide fragments which, after verification in animal models, might be considered as part of future synthetic Ebola vaccine.
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10
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Jain S, Baranwal M. Conserved immunogenic peptides of Ebola glycoprotein elicit immune response in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Microbiol Immunol 2021; 65:505-511. [PMID: 34343363 DOI: 10.1111/1348-0421.12935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2021] [Revised: 07/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
In the past 45 years, ebolaviruses have periodically caused epidemics on the African continent. In December 2019, approval of a recombinant vector-based EBOV vaccine, named Ervebo, came as encouraging news; still, there is a long way to go in the development of an accessible, global, and pan-ebolavirus vaccine. The current study expanded our previous in silico work which was conducted on ebolavirus glycoprotein and this resulted in the identification of three potentially immunogenic peptides (P1 - FKRTSFFLWVIILFQRTFSIPL, P2 - LANETTQALQLF, and P3 - RATTELRTFSILNRKAIDF). An analysis to estimate the number of expected human leukocyte antigen (HLA) responders revealed that P1, P2, and P3 can potentially interact with 2540, 2150, and 2802 HLA alleles, respectively. Further, these peptides were subject to in vitro analysis wherein the human peripheral blood mononuclear cell proliferation and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) production by peptide stimulated cells was studied in 10 healthy human blood samples with the help of a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) respectively. P3 presented the best results, a significant (P < 0.05) peptide induced cell proliferation and IFN-γ stimulation for 8 and 10 samples, respectively, followed by P1 (5 and 6) and P2 (5 and 7). The in silico and in vitro results obtained in this study indicate the immunogenic potential of these peptides and warrant exploration of the effects on other cytokines as well as in vivo experimental validation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahil Jain
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab, India.,University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, India
| | - Manoj Baranwal
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab, India
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11
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Alam A, Khan A, Imam N, Siddiqui MF, Waseem M, Malik MZ, Ishrat R. Design of an epitope-based peptide vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2: a vaccine-informatics approach. Brief Bioinform 2021; 22:1309-1323. [PMID: 33285567 PMCID: PMC7799329 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbaa340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2020] [Revised: 10/24/2020] [Accepted: 10/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The recurrent and recent global outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has turned into a global concern which has infected more than 42 million people all over the globe, and this number is increasing in hours. Unfortunately, no vaccine or specific treatment is available, which makes it more deadly. A vaccine-informatics approach has shown significant breakthrough in peptide-based epitope mapping and opens the new horizon in vaccine development. In this study, we have identified a total of 15 antigenic peptides [including thymus cells (T-cells) and bone marrow or bursa-derived cells] in the surface glycoprotein (SG) of SARS-CoV-2 which is nontoxic and nonallergenic in nature, nonallergenic, highly antigenic and non-mutated in other SARS-CoV-2 virus strains. The population coverage analysis has found that cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4+) T-cell peptides showed higher cumulative population coverage over cluster of differentiation 8 (CD8+) peptides in the 16 different geographical regions of the world. We identified 12 peptides ((LTDEMIAQY, WTAGAAAYY, WMESEFRVY, IRASANLAA, FGAISSVLN, VKQLSSNFG, FAMQMAYRF, FGAGAALQI, YGFQPTNGVGYQ, LPDPSKPSKR, QTQTNSPRRARS and VITPGTNTSN) that are $80\hbox{--} 90\%$ identical with experimentally determined epitopes of SARS-CoV, and this will likely be beneficial for a quick progression of the vaccine design. Moreover, docking analysis suggested that the identified peptides are tightly bound in the groove of human leukocyte antigen molecules which can induce the T-cell response. Overall, this study allows us to determine potent peptide antigen targets in the SG on intuitive grounds, which opens up a new horizon in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) research. However, this study needs experimental validation by in vitro and in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aftab Alam
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi 110025, India
| | - Arbaaz Khan
- Department of computer science, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India
| | - Nikhat Imam
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Science, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India
| | | | - Mohd Waseem
- School of Computational & Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Md Zubbair Malik
- School of Computational & Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Romana Ishrat
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Science, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India
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12
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Evaluation of potential MHC-I allele-specific epitopes in Zika virus proteins and the effects of mutations on peptide-MHC-I interaction studied using in silico approaches. Comput Biol Chem 2021; 92:107459. [PMID: 33636637 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2021.107459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2020] [Revised: 02/06/2021] [Accepted: 02/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is a global health concern due to its association with microcephaly and neurological complications. The development of a T-cell vaccine is important to combat this disease. In this study, we propose ZIKV major histocompatibility complex I (MHC-I) epitopes based on in silico screening consensus followed by molecular docking, PRODIGY, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation analyses. The effects of the reported mutations on peptide-MHC-I (pMHC-I) complexes were also evaluated. In general, our data indicate an allele-specific peptide-binding human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and potential epitopes. For HLA-B44, we showed that the absence of acidic residue Glu at P2, due to the loss of the electrostatic interaction with Lys45, has a negative impact on the pMHC-I complex stability and explains the low free energy estimated for the immunodominant peptide E-4 (IGVSNRDFV). Our MD data also suggest the deleterious effects of acidic residue Asp at P1 on the pMHC-I stability of HLA-B8 due to destabilization of the α-helix and β-strand. Free energy estimation further indicated that the mutation from Val to Ala at P9 of peptide E-247 (DAHAKRQTV), which was found exclusively in microcephaly samples, did not reduce HLA-B8 affinity. In contrast, the mutation from Thr to Pro at P2 of the peptide NS5-832 (VTKWTDIPY) decreased the interaction energy, number of intermolecular interactions, and adversely affected its binding mode with HLA-A1. Overall, our findings are important with regard to the design of T-cell peptide vaccines and for understanding how ZIKV escapes recognition by CD8 + T-cells.
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Namazi F, Davoodi S, Bolhassani A. Comparison of the efficacy of HIV-1 Nef-Tat-Gp160-p24 polyepitope vaccine candidate with Nef protein in different immunization strategies. Curr Drug Deliv 2021; 19:142-156. [PMID: 33655833 DOI: 10.2174/1567201818666210224101144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2020] [Revised: 12/23/2020] [Accepted: 01/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES One of the promising strategies for effective HIV-1 vaccine design involves finding the polyepitope immunogens using T cell epitopes. METHODS Herein, an HIV-1 polyepitope construct (i.e., Nef-Tat-Gp160-P24) comprising of several epitopes from Nef, Tat, Gp160, and P24 proteins was designed. To improve its immunogenicity in BALB/c mice, cell-penetrating peptides (HR9 & MPG for DNA delivery, and LDP-NLS & CyLoP-1 for protein transfer), Montanide adjuvant, and heterologous DNA prime/polypeptide boost strategy were used. To compare the immunogenicity, Nef was utilized as a vaccine candidate. The levels of total IgG and its subclasses, cytokines, and Granzyme B were assessed using ELISA. RESULTS Immunological studies showed that heterologous prime-boost regimens for both antigens could considerably augment the levels of IgG2a, IgG2b, IFN-γ, and Granzyme B directed toward Th1 and CTL immune responses in comparison with homologous prime-boost strategies. The levels of IFN-γ, IL-10, total IgG, IgG1, and IgG2b were drastically higher in groups immunized with Nef-Tat-Gp160-P24 in heterologous prime-boost regimens than those in groups immunized with Nef. CONCLUSIONS The use of the Nef-Tat-Gp160-P24 polyepitope immunogen in heterologous prime-boost strategy could generate the mixture of Th1 and Th2 responses directed further toward Th1 response as a hopeful method for improvement of HIV-1 vaccine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatemeh Namazi
- Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran. Iran
| | - Saba Davoodi
- Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran. Iran
| | - Azam Bolhassani
- Department of Hepatitis and AIDS, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran. Iran
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Jain S, Khaiboullina SF, Baranwal M. Immunological Perspective for Ebola Virus Infection and Various Treatment Measures Taken to Fight the Disease. Pathogens 2020; 9:E850. [PMID: 33080902 PMCID: PMC7603231 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens9100850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2020] [Revised: 10/07/2020] [Accepted: 10/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Ebolaviruses, discovered in 1976, belongs to the Filoviridae family, which also includes Marburg and Lloviu viruses. They are negative-stranded RNA viruses with six known species identified to date. Ebola virus (EBOV) is a member of Zaire ebolavirus species and can cause the Ebola virus disease (EVD), an emerging zoonotic disease that results in homeostatic imbalance and multi-organ failure. There are three EBOV outbreaks documented in the last six years resulting in significant morbidity (> 32,000 cases) and mortality (> 13,500 deaths). The potential factors contributing to the high infectivity of this virus include multiple entry mechanisms, susceptibility of the host cells, employment of multiple immune evasion mechanisms and rapid person-to-person transmission. EBOV infection leads to cytokine storm, disseminated intravascular coagulation, host T cell apoptosis as well as cell mediated and humoral immune response. In this review, a concise recap of cell types targeted by EBOV and EVD symptoms followed by detailed run-through of host innate and adaptive immune responses, virus-driven regulation and their combined effects contributing to the disease pathogenesis has been presented. At last, the vaccine and drug development initiatives as well as challenges related to the management of infection have been discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahil Jain
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala 147004, Punjab, India;
| | - Svetlana F. Khaiboullina
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal University, 420008 Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia
| | - Manoj Baranwal
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala 147004, Punjab, India;
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Lohia N, Baranwal M. An Immunoinformatics Approach in Design of Synthetic Peptide Vaccine Against Influenza Virus. Methods Mol Biol 2020; 2131:229-243. [PMID: 32162257 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0389-5_11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Peptide-based vaccines are an appealing strategy which involves usage of short synthetic peptides to engineer a highly targeted immune response. These short synthetic peptides contain potential T- and B-cell epitopes. Experimental approaches in identifying these epitopes are time-consuming and expensive; hence immunoinformatics approach came into picture. Immuninformatics approach involves epitope prediction tools, molecular docking, and population coverage analysis in design of desired immunogenic peptides. In order to overcome the antigenic variation of viruses, conserved regions are targeted to find the potential epitopes. The present chapter demonstrates the use of immunoinformatics approach to select potential peptide containing multiple T- (CD8+ and CD4+) and B-cell epitopes from Avian H3N2 M1 Protein. Further, molecular docking (to analyse HLA-peptide interaction) and population coverage analysis have been used to verify the potential of peptide to be presented by polymorphic HLA molecules. In silico approach of epitope prediction has proven to be successful methodology in screening the putative epitopes among numerous possible vaccine targets in a given protein.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neha Lohia
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India.
- School of Life Sciences, Jaipur National University, Jaipur, India.
| | - Manoj Baranwal
- Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India
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Abdulla F, Adhikari UK, Uddin MK. Exploring T & B-cell epitopes and designing multi-epitope subunit vaccine targeting integration step of HIV-1 lifecycle using immunoinformatics approach. Microb Pathog 2019; 137:103791. [PMID: 31606417 DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2019.103791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2019] [Revised: 10/08/2019] [Accepted: 10/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Till now, AIDS, caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is still a severe health problem worldwide. It weakens the immune system by targeting the T-helper cells. Specifically, the severity of the pandemic HIV-1 makes the emergence of an enduring effective vaccine against HIV-1. Therefore, we have applied a series of immunoinformatics approaches to the four conserved domains of HIV-1 integrase (IN) proteins to design an effective multi-epitope based subunit vaccine which might induce a competent immunity against HIV-1. Therefore, we have selected three peptide fragments that contained all overlapping epitopes (35 CD4+, 8 CD8+ T-cell epitopes, and 3 B-cell epitopes) where the epitopes had a high conservancy score. The cumulative population coverage for combined CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell epitopes and their respective HLA-alleles were found as 98.03% in the world which is also followed by East Asia (96.24%), South Asia (96.31%), North Africa (96.14%), North America (98.99%), and Europe (98.80%). The proposed vaccine composed by an adjuvant (β-defensin) at the N-terminal site of the vaccine constructs and three peptide fragments where the adjuvant was fused by EAAAK linker and the peptide fragments were fused by GPGPG linker. The designed final vaccine construct (length: 159 amino acid) was found to be antigenic and non-allergic, which indicates its safety. The vaccine construct was found as good antigenic, stable, higher thermostable, and hydrophilic in nature. The codon adaptation and in silico cloning ensured the high expression rate of the vaccine constructs in E. coli K12 with CAI value of 1.0. Finally, the binding affinity of the vaccine constructs with the immune receptor TLR3 was confirmed by the lowest energy score of -1026.8 evaluated by molecular docking. However, the proposed in silico vaccine construct needs experimental validation for assuring the safety and immunogenicity profile which will ensure an active immunity against HIV-1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Faruq Abdulla
- Department of Statistics, Islamic University, Kushtia-7003, Bangladesh
| | - Utpal Kumar Adhikari
- School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW-2560, Australia
| | - M Kamal Uddin
- Department of Statistics, Islamic University, Kushtia-7003, Bangladesh.
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Ul-Rahman A, Shabbir MAB. In silico analysis for development of epitopes-based peptide vaccine against Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever virus. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2019; 38:3110-3122. [PMID: 31370756 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2019.1651673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever virus (ALKV) causes a fatal clinical disease in human beings of different tropical and sub-tropical regions. Recently, the ALKV epidemics have raised a great public health concern with the room for improvement in the essential therapeutic interventions. Despite increased realistic clinical cases of ALKV infection, the efficient vaccine or immunotherapy is not yet available to-date. Therefore, the current study aimed to analyze the envelope glycoprotein of ALKV for the development of B-cells and T-cells epitope-based peptide vaccine using the computational in silico method. Utilizing various immunoinformatics approaches, a total of 5 B-cells and 25 T-cells (MHC-I = 17, MHC-II = 8) epitope-based peptides were predicted in the current study. All predicted peptides had highest antigenicity and immunogenicity scores along with high binding affinity to human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II alleles. Among 25T-cell epitopes, three peptides were found alike to have affinity to bind both MHC-I and MHC-II alleles. These outcomes suggested that these predicted epitopes could potentially be used in the development of an efficient vaccine against ALKV, which may enable to elicit both humoral and cell-mediated immunity. Although, these predicted peptides could be useful in designing a candidate vaccine for the prevention of ALKV; however, it's in vitro and in vivo assessments are prerequisite.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aziz Ul-Rahman
- Department of Microbiology and Quality Operations Laboratory, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Abu Bakr Shabbir
- Department of Microbiology and Quality Operations Laboratory, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.,China MOA Laboratory for Risk Assessment of Quality and Safety of Livestock and Poultry Products, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
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