Islam Md Minarul, Han Kyudong, Bang Ye-Ji, Lee Je Chul, Shin Woo Shik, Oh Man Hwan
Smart Animal Bio Institute, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.
Department of Microbiology, College of Bio-convergence, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.
Genes Genomics. 2025 Jun 26. doi: 10.1007/s13258-025-01656-5.
Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) poses a pressing threat to global healthcare settings, as most antibiotics are ineffective against this nosocomial pathogen. Vaccines, particularly peptide-based vaccines, offer a promising and effective strategy to deal with these infections.
This study aimed to evaluate the potential of epitopes derived from the OmpA protein of A. baumannii as vaccine candidates for combating this pathogen.
This study employed advanced bioinformatic tools to identify potential epitopes for vaccine candidates against A. baumannii infections. IEDB and SYFPEITHI were used to identify T-cell epitopes of A. baumannii OmpA protein. The epitopes were filtered based on score, clustering, human similarity, immunogenicity, cytokine response, and safety. Epitopes with high scores and both class-I and class-II sites were selected. Three epitopes were chosen for molecular docking and physicochemical evaluation as potential vaccine candidates.
Three epitopes (EP1, EP2, and EP3) derived from A. baumannii OmpA were found to effectively bind with specific human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles. These epitopes have shown promising potential to elicit both cellular and humoral immune responses. Their physicochemical and immunological properties were thoroughly evaluated, indicating strong antigenic potential, non-toxicity, lack of allergenic properties, good binding affinity, and wide population coverage. The epitopes' two- and three-dimensional structures were predicted, and they were docked with their respective HLA alleles to assess their ability to stimulate innate immune responses. The predicted epitopes and HLA-allelic complexes exhibited excellent binding affinity, optimal Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) values, favorable physicochemical properties, and high-quality structural characteristics.
This study identified epitopes that hold promise as potential solutions for combating multidrug-resistant A. baumannii, pending validation through wet lab experiments and clinical trials.
多重耐药鲍曼不动杆菌对全球医疗环境构成了紧迫威胁，因为大多数抗生素对这种医院病原体无效。疫苗，尤其是基于肽的疫苗，为应对这些感染提供了一种有前景且有效的策略。
本研究旨在评估源自鲍曼不动杆菌外膜蛋白A（OmpA）的表位作为对抗该病原体的候选疫苗的潜力。
本研究采用先进的生物信息学工具来识别针对鲍曼不动杆菌感染的候选疫苗潜在表位。利用免疫表位数据库（IEDB）和SYFPEITHI来识别鲍曼不动杆菌OmpA蛋白的T细胞表位。基于得分、聚类、与人类的相似性、免疫原性、细胞因子反应和安全性对表位进行筛选。选择得分高且同时具有I类和II类位点的表位。选择三个表位进行分子对接和理化性质评估，作为潜在的候选疫苗。
发现源自鲍曼不动杆菌OmpA的三个表位（EP1、EP2和EP3）能与特定的人类白细胞抗原（HLA）等位基因有效结合。这些表位显示出引发细胞免疫和体液免疫反应的良好潜力。对它们的理化和免疫学特性进行了全面评估，表明具有强大的抗原潜力、无毒性、无致敏特性、良好的结合亲和力以及广泛的人群覆盖率。预测了这些表位的二维和三维结构，并将它们与各自的HLA等位基因进行对接，以评估它们刺激先天免疫反应的能力。预测的表位和HLA等位基因复合物表现出优异的结合亲和力、最佳的均方根偏差（RMSD）值、良好的理化性质和高质量的结构特征。
本研究鉴定出的表位有望成为对抗多重耐药鲍曼不动杆菌的潜在解决方案，但仍有待通过湿实验室实验和临床试验进行验证。
