Design of a predicted MHC restricted short peptide immunodiagnostic and vaccine candidate for Fowl adenovirus C in chicken infection

Abstract

Fowl adenoviruses (FAdVs) are the ethiologic agents of multiple pathologies in chicken. There are five different species of FAdVs grouped as FAdV-A, FAdV-B, FAdV-C, FAdV-D, and FAdV-E. It is of interest to develop immunodiagnostics and vaccine candidate for Peruvian FAdV-C in chicken infection using MHC restricted short peptide candidates. We sequenced the complete genome of one FAdV strain isolated from a chicken of a local farm. A total of 44 protein coding genes were identified in each genome. We sequenced twelve Cobb chicken MHC alleles from animals of different farms in the central coast of Peru, and subsequently determined three optimal human MHC-I and four optimal human MHC-II substitute alleles for MHC-peptide prediction. The potential MHC restricted short peptide epitope-like candidates were predicted using human specific (with determined suitable chicken substitutes) NetMHC MHC-peptide prediction model with web server features from all the FAdV genomes available. FAdV specific peptides with calculated binding values to known substituted chicken MHC-I and MHC-II were further filtered for diagnostics and potential vaccine epitopes. Promiscuity to the 3/4 optimal human MHC-I/II alleles and conservation among the available FAdV genomes was considered in this analysis. The localization on the surface of the protein was considered for class II predicted peptides. Thus, a set of class I and class II specific peptides from FAdV were reported in this study. Hence, a multiepitopic protein was built with these peptides, and subsequently tested to confirm the production of specific antibodies in chicken.

Promising new vaccine candidates against Campylobacter in broilers

“…This recent strategy has already proven its efficiency, firstly with the development of a vaccine against B serogroup Neisseria meningitidis [ 38 , 39 ]. Many studies have since been successfully conducted [ 40 – 43 ]. In this study, we have demonstrated the immune and protective powers against Campylobacter of four new antigens (YP437, YP562, YP9817, and YP9838) even if this was not statistically confirmed in a second experiment.…”

An Inactivated Novel Genotype Fowl Adenovirus 4 Protects Chickens against the Hydropericardium Syndrome That Recently Emerged in China

“…The FAdV-4 strain was isolated and characterized as a novel genotype [ 24 , 26 ]. Although many studies have been conducted on inactivated or recombinant subunit vaccines consisting of several serotypes of FAdVs against the conventional FAdV-4 strains [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ], no vaccine has been developed and evaluated for the HPS associated with the novel hypervirulent FAdV-4 [ 26 , 38 ]. In this study, an inactivated novel genotype FAdV-4 vaccine formulated with oil-emulsion was developed, and the immune responses and protective efficacy were evaluated by challenging SPF chickens with a lethal dose of the novel hypervirulent FAdV-4.…”

Identification of Novel Candidate Epitopes on SARS-CoV-2 Proteins for South America: A Review of HLA Frequencies by Country

“…In this urgent race to develop a vaccine, immunoinformatic techniques represent a powerful approach that allows the screening of whole pathogen proteomes to identify potential immunogenic regions ( 55 ). This includes predicting linear epitopes potentially presented by the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) class I and II, which can be used to design peptide vaccines ( 56 ) and molecular diagnostic tests ( 57 ). The state-of-the-art programs are based on artificial neural networks ( 58 – 61 ), and they require both the sequence of target protein(s) and the host HLA allele(s) at 4-digit resolution ( 62 , 63 ).…”