Computer-Assisted and Data Driven Approaches for Surveillance, Drug Discovery, and Vaccine Design for the Zika Virus

Abstract

Human life has been at the edge of catastrophe for millennia due diseases which emerge and reemerge at random. The recent outbreak of the Zika virus (ZIKV) is one such menace that shook the global public health community abruptly. Modern technologies, including computational tools as well as experimental approaches, need to be harnessed fast and effectively in a coordinated manner in order to properly address such challenges. In this paper, based on our earlier research, we have proposed a four-pronged approach to tackle the emerging pathogens like ZIKV: (a) Epidemiological modelling of spread mechanisms of ZIKV; (b) assessment of the public health risk of newly emerging strains of the pathogens by comparing them with existing strains/pathogens using fast computational sequence comparison methods; (c) implementation of vaccine design methods in order to produce a set of probable peptide vaccine candidates for quick synthesis/production and testing in the laboratory; and (d) designing of novel therapeutic molecules and their laboratory testing as well as validation of new drugs or repurposing of drugs for use against ZIKV. For each of these stages, we provide an extensive review of the technical challenges and current state-of-the-art. Further, we outline the future areas of research and discuss how they can work together to proactively combat ZIKV or future emerging pathogens.

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“…These observations and hypotheses may help to plan new experiments and develop new methods for HIV/AIDS treatment including the search for novel chemical compounds that can modulate the level of expression of target proteins, and vaccine development. We suppose that the suggested approach can be applied to an analysis of other viral infections, including those that have been affecting humanity for the last years (Basak et al, 2019 ; Tarasova et al, 2020 ; Tworowski et al, 2020 ). In addition it may help provide the possibility to analyze other various pathological processes non-related to viral infections that can involve the changes in gene expression (Kovalenko et al, 2016 ; Kandhro et al, 2017 ; Bizzarri et al, 2020 ) and find possible strategies to combat pathological conditions.…”

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“…The epitopes are then tested for population human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and autoimmune response risks initially. Following that, any highly-ranked epitopes would be selected for further analyses of efficiency, side effects, range and other variables to ensure the epitopes selected are suitable for further consideration [ 180 ].…”

“…One example is the clinical case of a 71-year-old woman who was admitted preliminarily for gastrointestinal infection, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 three days after admission and was only then moved to a negative pressure room [ 189 ]. This clinical case highlights the importance of monitoring COVID-19 through seemingly unrelated symptoms [ 180 ]. Implementation of the enhanced traffic control bundling (eTCB) system, a model proposed to enhance the process of limiting nosocomial transmission of COVID-19, may aid in breaking the community–hospital–community infection cycle [ 190 ].…”

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“…These include both host- and virus-targeting antivirals or antibodies, either repurposed from drugs in use for other diseases or screened from compound libraries. 57 , 58 For example, drugs that upregulate the interferon innate immune pathway or suppress viral replication have shown therapeutic promise. 57 As of yet, no medication has completed phase II clinical trials.…”