Suleman Muhammad, Ul Qamar Muhammad Tahir, Rasool Samreen, Rasool Aneela, Albutti Aqel, Alsowayeh Noorah, Alwashmi Ameen S S, Aljasir Mohammad Abdullah, Ahmad Sajjad, Hussain Zahid, Rizwan Muhammad, Ali Syed Shujait, Khan Abbas, Wei Dong-Qing
Centre for Biotechnology and Microbiology, University of Swat, Swat 19200, Pakistan.
College of Life Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
Vaccines (Basel). 2021 Oct 20;9(11):1210. doi: 10.3390/vaccines9111210.
Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), belonging to the Flaviviridae family, is transmitted to humans via infected tick bites, leading to serious neurological complications and, in some cases, death. The available vaccines against the TBEV are reported to have low immunogenicity and are associated with adverse effects like swelling, redness and fever. Moreover, these vaccines are whole-organism-based, carry a risk of reactivation and potential for significant mortality. Consequently, to design a potential antigenic and non-allergenic multi-epitope subunit vaccine against the TBEV, we used an immunoinformatic approach to screen the Tick-borne virus proteome for highly antigenic CTL, HTL and B cell epitopes. The proper folding of the constructed vaccine was validated by a molecular dynamic simulation. Additionally, the molecular docking and binding free energy (−87.50 kcal/mol) further confirmed the strong binding affinity of the constructed vaccine with TLR-4. The vaccine exhibited a CAI value of 0.93 and a GC content of 49%, showing a high expression capability in E coli. Moreover, the analysis of immune simulation demonstrated robust immune responses against the injected vaccine and clearance of the antigen with time. In conclusion, our vaccine candidate shows promise for both in vitro and in vivo analyses due to its high immunogenicity, non-allergenicity and stable interaction with the human TLR-4 receptor.
蜱传脑炎病毒(TBEV)属于黄病毒科,通过受感染的蜱虫叮咬传播给人类,可导致严重的神经并发症,在某些情况下甚至会导致死亡。据报道,现有的针对TBEV的疫苗免疫原性较低,且伴有肿胀、发红和发热等不良反应。此外,这些疫苗是以全生物体为基础的,存在再激活风险和显著的死亡可能性。因此,为了设计一种针对TBEV的潜在抗原性和非过敏性多表位亚单位疫苗,我们采用免疫信息学方法在蜱传病毒蛋白质组中筛选高度抗原性的细胞毒性T淋巴细胞(CTL)、辅助性T淋巴细胞(HTL)和B细胞表位。通过分子动力学模拟验证了构建疫苗的正确折叠。此外,分子对接和结合自由能(-87.50千卡/摩尔)进一步证实了构建疫苗与Toll样受体4(TLR-4)具有很强的结合亲和力。该疫苗的密码子适应指数(CAI)值为0.93,鸟嘌呤-胞嘧啶(GC)含量为49%,表明在大肠杆菌中具有高表达能力。此外,免疫模拟分析表明,针对注射的疫苗产生了强烈的免疫反应,并且随着时间的推移抗原被清除。总之,我们的候选疫苗因其高免疫原性、非过敏性以及与人类TLR-4受体的稳定相互作用,在体外和体内分析中均显示出前景。