Prediction of epitopes of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae against USA human leukocyte antigen background: An immunoinformatic approach towards development of future vaccines for USA population

Systematic review of reverse vaccinology and immunoinformatics data for non-viral sexually transmitted infections

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are a public health burden rising in developed and developing nations. The World Health Organization estimates nearly 374 million new cases of curable STIs yearly. Global efforts to control their spread have been insufficient in fulfilling their objective. As there is no vaccine for many of these infections, these efforts are focused on education and condom distribution. The development of vaccines for STIs is vital for successfully halting their spread. The field of immunoinformatics is a powerful new tool for vaccine development, allowing for the identification of vaccine candidates within a bacterium's genome and allowing for the design of new genome-based vaccine peptides. The goal of this review was to evaluate the usage of immunoinformatics in research focused on non-viral STIs, identifying fields where research efforts are concentrated. Here we describe gaps in applying these techniques, as in the case of Treponema pallidum and Trichomonas vaginalis.

Development of multi-epitope vaccine constructs for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) against USA human leukocyte antigen background: an immunoinformatic approach toward future vaccine designing

OBJECTIVES

The design of peptide-based vaccines for cancer is a promising immunotherapy that can induce a cancer-specific cytotoxic response in tumor cells.

METHODS

Herein, we used the immunoinformatic approach in designing a multi-epitope vaccine targeting G-protein coupled receptor 87 (GPCR-87), cystine/glutamate transporter (SLC7A11), Immunoglobulin binding protein 1 (IGBP1), and thioredoxin domain-containing protein 5 (TXNDC5), which can potentially contribute to NSCLC. The MHC-I and MHC-II epitopes selected for the fusion construct were evaluated for their antigenic and non-allergenic natures via VaxiJen and AllerTop.

RESULTS

A total of five epitopes, four class-I (FIFYLKNIV, CRYTSVLFY, RYLKVVKPF, and RQAKIQRYK), and one class-II (NQVRGYPTLLWFRDG), having combined USA population coverage of 100%, were used to make ten possible multi-epitope fusion constructs. In these constructs, PADRE, a universal T-helper epitope, and RSO9, a TLR4 agonist, were fused as adjuvants. The molecular docking analysis revealed that two constructs were showing significant binding affinities toward HLA-A*02:01, the most prevalent HLA allele in USA. Moreover, MD simulations marked one construct as a promising therapeutic candidate.

CONCLUSION

The multi-epitope vaccine constructs designed using immunogenic, and non-allergenic peptides of NSCLS tumor-associated proteins are likely to pose significant therapeutic efficacies in cancer immunotherapy due to their high binding affinities toward HLA molecules.

Prediction of putative epitope-based vaccine against all corona virus strains for the Chinese population: Approach toward development of vaccine

Currently, the whole world is facing the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic. As of now, approximately 0.15 million people around the globe are infected with the novel coronavirus. In the last decade, two strains of the coronavirus family, severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, also resulted in epidemics in south Asian and the Middle Eastern countries with high mortality rate. This scenario demands the development of a putative vaccine which may provide immunity against all current and new evolving coronavirus strains. In this study, we designed an epitope-based vaccine using an immunoinformatic approach. This vaccine may protect against all coronavirus strains. The vaccine is developed by considering the geographical distribution of coronavirus strains and host genetics (Chinese population). Nine experimentally validated epitopes sequences from coronavirus strains were used to derive the variants considering the conservancy in all strains. Further, the binding affinities of all derived variants were checked with most abundant human leukocyte antigen alleles in the Chinese population. Three major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Class I epitopes from spike glycoprotein and nucleoprotein showed sufficient binding while one MHC Class II epitope from spike glycoprotein was found to be an effective binder. A cocktail of these epitopes gave more than 95% population coverage in the Chinese population. Moreover, molecular dynamics simulation supported the aforementioned predictions. Further, in vivo studies are needed to confirm the immunogenic potential of these vaccines.

Analysis of Putative Epitope Candidates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Against Pakistani Human Leukocyte Antigen Background: An Immunoinformatic Study for the Development of Future Vaccine

Tuberculosis (TB), a chronic disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is a global health issue across the world. Pakistan ranks fifth among the countries, which are facing, a significantly great number of mortalities and morbidities due to TB. Unfortunately, all previously reported treatments are not successful for the eradication of TB. Here in this study, we report an emerging treatment option for this disease. We have applied immunoinformatics to predict highly conserved B and T-cell epitopes from Mtb, showing significant binding affinities to the frequent HLA alleles in the Pakistani population. A total of ten highly referenced and experimentally validated epitopes were selected from the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB), followed by their conservancy analysis using weblogos. The consensus sequences and variants derived from these sequences were examined, for their binding affinities, with prevalent HLA alleles of Pakistan. Moreover, the antigenic and allergenic natures of these peptides were also evaluated via Vaxijen and AllerTOP, respectively. Consequently, all potentially allergenic and non-antigenic, peptide fragments, were excluded from the analysis. Among all putative epitopes, three CD8 + T-cell epitopes were selected, as ideal vaccine candidates and, population coverage analysis revealed that the combination of these three peptides was covering, 67.28% Pakistani Asian and 57.15% mixed Pakistani populations. Likewise, eleven linear and six conformational or discontinuous B-cell epitopes were also marked as potential vaccine candidates based on their prediction score, non-allergenic nature, and antigenic properties. These epitopes, however, need the final validation via wet-lab studies. After their approval, these epitopes would be effective candidates for the future designing of epitope-based vaccines against Mtb infections in Pakistan.