Contreras Marinela, Rafael Marta, Sobrino Isidro, Almazán Consuelo, Pastor Comín Juan J, Valdés James J, Prudencio Carlos Roberto, de Lima Neto Daniel Ferreira, Borin Veniamin A, Agarwal Pratul K, Kasaija Paul D, Fernández-Melgar Rubén, Rutaisire Justus, de la Fuente José
SaBio, Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM)-Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha (JCCM), Ciudad Real, Spain.
Laboratorio de Inmunología y Vacunas, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Juriquilla, Querétaro, Mexico.
PLoS One. 2025 Feb 10;20(2):e0318439. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0318439. eCollection 2025.
Ticks and tick-borne diseases are a growing burden worldwide and vaccines are effective control interventions. Vaccine formulations with tick antigens such as BM86/BM95 (BM) and Subolesin (SUB) have shown reduction in tick fitness and infestation in immunized hosts. However, antigen combination is a challenging approach to improve vaccine efficacy (E) against multiple tick species. Herein, in silico and in music algorithms were integrated to model BM-SUB protein-protein interactions to apply a quantum vaccinology approach for combining protective epitopes or immunological quantum in the chimeric antigen Q38-95. Cattle immunized with Q38-95 and infested with African blue tick Rhipicephalus decoloratus showed an 82% E similar to BM86 and higher than SUB. The immune mechanisms activated in cattle in response to vaccination with Q38-95 were mediated by anti-BM/SUB antibodies that interfered with BM-SUB interactions and through activation of other innate and adaptive immune pathways. The results support modelling protein-protein interactions affecting E to identify and combine candidate protective epitopes in chimeric antigens.
蜱虫及蜱传疾病在全球范围内造成的负担日益加重，而疫苗是有效的防控干预措施。含有蜱抗原如BM86/BM95（BM）和亚油酸异构酶（SUB）的疫苗制剂已显示出能降低免疫宿主中蜱虫的适应性和寄生率。然而，抗原组合是提高针对多种蜱虫物种疫苗效力（E）的一种具有挑战性的方法。在此，将计算机模拟和体内算法相结合，对BM - SUB蛋白 - 蛋白相互作用进行建模，以应用量子疫苗学方法在嵌合抗原Q38 - 95中组合保护性表位或免疫量子。用Q38 - 95免疫并感染非洲蓝蜱璃眼蜱的牛显示出82%的效力，与BM86相似且高于SUB。牛在接种Q38 - 95后激活的免疫机制由干扰BM - SUB相互作用的抗BM/SUB抗体介导，并通过激活其他固有免疫和适应性免疫途径实现。这些结果支持对影响效力的蛋白 - 蛋白相互作用进行建模，以在嵌合抗原中鉴定和组合候选保护性表位。
