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de Vrij N, Meysman P, Gielis S, Adriaensen W, Laukens K, Cuypers B. HLA-DRB1 Alleles Associated with Lower Leishmaniasis Susceptibility Share Common Amino Acid Polymorphisms and Epitope Binding Repertoires. Vaccines (Basel) 2021; 9:270. [PMID: 33803005 PMCID: PMC8002611 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines9030270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Revised: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Susceptibility for leishmaniasis is largely dependent on host genetic and immune factors. Despite the previously described association of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene cluster variants as genetic susceptibility factors for leishmaniasis, little is known regarding the mechanisms that underpin these associations. To better understand this underlying functionality, we first collected all known leishmaniasis-associated HLA variants in a thorough literature review. Next, we aligned and compared the protection- and risk-associated HLA-DRB1 allele sequences. This identified several amino acid polymorphisms that distinguish protection- from risk-associated HLA-DRB1 alleles. Subsequently, T cell epitope binding predictions were carried out across these alleles to map the impact of these polymorphisms on the epitope binding repertoires. For these predictions, we used epitopes derived from entire proteomes of multiple Leishmania species. Epitopes binding to protection-associated HLA-DRB1 alleles shared common binding core motifs, mapping to the identified HLA-DRB1 amino acid polymorphisms. These results strongly suggest that HLA polymorphism, resulting in differential antigen presentation, affects the association between HLA and leishmaniasis disease development. Finally, we established a valuable open-access resource of putative epitopes. A set of 14 HLA-unrestricted strong-binding epitopes, conserved across species, was prioritized for further epitope discovery in the search for novel subunit-based vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicky de Vrij
- Department of Computer Science, University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium; (N.d.V.); (P.M.); (S.G.)
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium;
- Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
- Biomedical Informatics Network Antwerpen (Biomina), University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Pieter Meysman
- Department of Computer Science, University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium; (N.d.V.); (P.M.); (S.G.)
- Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
- Biomedical Informatics Network Antwerpen (Biomina), University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Sofie Gielis
- Department of Computer Science, University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium; (N.d.V.); (P.M.); (S.G.)
- Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
- Biomedical Informatics Network Antwerpen (Biomina), University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Wim Adriaensen
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium;
| | - Kris Laukens
- Department of Computer Science, University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium; (N.d.V.); (P.M.); (S.G.)
- Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
- Biomedical Informatics Network Antwerpen (Biomina), University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Bart Cuypers
- Department of Computer Science, University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium; (N.d.V.); (P.M.); (S.G.)
- Biomedical Informatics Network Antwerpen (Biomina), University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
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Ropón-Palacios G, Chenet-Zuta ME, Otazu K, Olivos-Ramirez GE, Camps I. Novel multi-epitope protein containing conserved epitopes from different Leishmania species as potential vaccine candidate: Integrated immunoinformatics and molecular dynamics approach. Comput Biol Chem 2019; 83:107157. [PMID: 31751887 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2019.107157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2019] [Revised: 10/08/2019] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Leishmaniosis, caused by intracellular parasites of the genus Leishmania, has become a serious public health problem around the world, and for which there are currently extensive limitations. In this work, a theoretical model was proposed for the development of a multi-epitope vaccine. The protein GP63 of the parasite was selected for epitopes prediction, due to its important biological role for the infection process and abundance. IEDB tools were used to determine epitopes B and T in Leishmania braziliensis; besides, other conserved epitopes in three species were selected. To improve immunogenicity, 50S ribosomal protein L7 / L12 (ID: P9WHE3) was used as a domain of adjuvant in the assembly process. The folding arrangement of the vaccine was obtained through homologous modeling multi-template with MODELLER v9.21, and a Ramachandran plot analysis was done. Furthermore, physicochemical properties were described with the ProtParam tool and secondary structure prediction combining GOR-IV and SOPMA tools. Finally, a molecular dynamics simulation (50 ns) was performed to establish flexibility and conformational changes. The analysis of the results indicates high conservancy in the epitopes predicted among the four species. Moreover, Ramachandran plot, physicochemical parameters, and secondary structure prediction suggest a stable conformation of the vaccine, after a minimum conformational change that was evaluated with the free energy landscape. The conformational change does not drive any substantial change for epitope exposition on the surface. The vaccine proposed could be tested experimentally to guide new approaches in the development of pan-vaccines; vaccines with regions conserved in multiple species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georcki Ropón-Palacios
- Laboratório de Modelagem Computacional - LaModel, Instituto de Ciências Exatas - ICEx, Universidade Federal de Alfenas - UNIFAL-MG, Alfenas Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Manuel E Chenet-Zuta
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universitaria N°3004 Distrito Federal, Mexico
| | - Kewin Otazu
- Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional del Altiplano, Av. Floral No1153, Puno, Peru
| | - Gustavo E Olivos-Ramirez
- Laboratorio de Evaluación de los Recursos Acuáticos y Cultivo de Especies Auxiliares, Departamento Académico de Biología, Microbiología y Biotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional del Santa, Nuevo Chimbote, Peru
| | - Ihosvany Camps
- Laboratório de Modelagem Computacional - LaModel, Instituto de Ciências Exatas - ICEx, Universidade Federal de Alfenas - UNIFAL-MG, Alfenas Minas Gerais, Brazil.
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Moafi M, Rezvan H, Sherkat R, Taleban R. Leishmania Vaccines Entered in Clinical Trials: A Review of Literature. Int J Prev Med 2019; 10:95. [PMID: 31360342 PMCID: PMC6592111 DOI: 10.4103/ijpvm.ijpvm_116_18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2018] [Accepted: 10/09/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Leishmaniasis is considered as a zoonotic infection and neglected tropical disease. Leishmania treatment is not totally successful and imposes high expenditures, especially in developing countries. Since the natural infection leads to the robust immunity in most of the human cases, many bodies of research have been focusing on Leishmania vaccines, being capable to control Leishmania infection. First generation vaccines (such as Leishmune® and CaniLeish®) have proved robust protective immunity in dogs. In human, recombinant vaccines, including Leish-F1 could confer some degrees of protective immunity against natural infection. Recently, ChAd63-KH DNA vaccine has been accomplished in providing prevention against Leishmania infection; however, this vaccine should be further evaluated in other clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Moafi
- Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran
| | - Hossein Rezvan
- Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran
| | - Roya Sherkat
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
| | - Roya Taleban
- Child Growth and Development Research Center, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of Non-communicable Disease, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
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Protective efficacy of a plasmid DNA vaccine against transgene-specific tumors by Th1 cellular immune responses after intradermal injection. Cell Immunol 2018; 329:17-26. [PMID: 29653690 DOI: 10.1016/j.cellimm.2018.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2018] [Revised: 03/14/2018] [Accepted: 04/09/2018] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
With DNA vaccines, it is important to monitor the movement of transfectants and to overcome immune deviations. We used a pCMV-LacZ plasmid (expressing β-galactosidase) and a pcDNA-hNIS plasmid (expressing the human sodium/iodide symporter [hNIS] gene) as non-secreted visual-imaging markers. Transfectants carrying the hNIS or LacZ gene migrated to peripheral lymphoid tissues. hNIS-expressing cells were observed specifically in the LNs and spleen. Anti-β-galactosidase was detected in LacZ DNA immunized mice after boosting twice, suggestive of Th2 humoral immune responses. Antibody isotyping defined the humoral immune response. A dominant IgG2a type occurred in hNIS-immunized mice in ELISAs. IgG2a/IgG1 ratios increased after hNIS DNA vaccination. High levels of INF-γ-secreting cells were identified in ELISpot and increased IFN-γ levels were found in cytokine ELISAs. Tumor growth decreased in hNIS DNA-immunized mice. In conclusion, humoral immune responses switched to the Th1 cellular immune response, even though we administered plasmid DNA by intra dermal injection.
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Kaur S, Kaur T, Joshi J. Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of DNA vaccine against visceral leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice. J Biomed Res 2016; 30:304-13. [PMID: 27533939 PMCID: PMC4946321 DOI: 10.7555/jbr.30.20150125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2015] [Revised: 11/05/2015] [Accepted: 12/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The current study was designed to examine the protective efficacy of DNA vaccines based on gp63 and Hsp70 against murine visceral leishmaniasis. Inbred BALB/c mice were immunized subcutaneously twice at an interval of three weeks with pcDNA3.1(+) encoding T cell epitopes of gp63 and Hsp70 individually and in combination. Animals were challenged intracardially with 107 promastigotes of Leishmania donovani 10 days post immunization and sacrificed 1, 2 and 3 months post challenge. The immunized animals revealed a significant reduction (P < 0.05) in splenic and hepatic parasite burden as compared to the infected controls. Maximum reduction in parasite load (P < 0.05) was observed in animals treated with a combination of pcDNA/gp63 and pcDNA/Hsp70. These animals also showed heightened DTH response, increased IgG2a, elevated Th1 cytokines (IFN-γ and IL-2) and reduced IgG1 and IL-10 levels. Thus, mice immunized with the cocktail vaccine exhibited significantly greater protection in comparison to those immunized with individual antigens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sukhbir Kaur
- Parasitology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India.
| | - Tejinder Kaur
- Parasitology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India.
| | - Jyoti Joshi
- Parasitology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India
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