Assessment of Suitability of Mucin Associated Surface Protein as a Potential Vaccine Candidate for Chagas Disease

Abstract

Chagas' disease is anthropozoonosis caused by flagellated protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. American trypanosomiasis earned the name in honor of Dr. Carlos Chagas, described in his work, in 1909, the etiologic agent of the disease, the evolutionary cycle of parasites and vectors, and clinical manifestations of the critical stage (Chagas, 1909). Chagas disease causes significant morbidity and mortality in Latin America. The disease has recently become a public health concern in non-endemic areas such as the United States and Europe. MASPs are glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-linked glycoproteins encoded by a multigene family with hundreds of members. MASPs are among the most abundant antigens set up on the exterior of the pestilent trypomastigote stage of T.cruzi, making them an alluring target to vaccine development. In this study, the assessment of the suitability of MASP for Chagas disease as a potential vaccine candidate is done with the application of VaxELAN and VaxiDL. The entire proteome of TC-CLB (T. cruzi CL Brener) was screened using a computational pipeline to identify sets of PVCs. Following that, the B-Cell and T-cell epitopes were analyzed for various parameters, and the highest-scoring ones were shortlisted based on their antigenicities. Cross-protection studies with other Trypanosoma species and strains were also conducted to investigate the cross-protection potential of the selected epitopes. Several vaccine constructs were created by combining the various shortlisted epitopes with appropriate adjuvant and linker sequences. These were then evaluated for their physicochemical properties and subjected to structural studies, codon optimization, and immune modulation studies. In summary, the suitability of the MASP is checked using VaxELAN and VaxiDL as a potential vaccine candidate for Chagas disease.