Designing multiepitope-based vaccine against Eimeria from immune mapped protein 1 (IMP-1) antigen using immunoinformatic approach

Abstract

Drug resistance against coccidiosis has posed a significant threat to chicken welfare and productivity worldwide, putting daunting pressure on the poultry industry to reduce the use of chemoprophylactic drugs and live vaccines in poultry to treat intestinal diseases. Chicken coccidiosis, caused by an apicomplexan parasite of Eimeria spp., is a significant challenge worldwide. Due to the experience of economic loss in production and prevention of the disease, development of cost-effective vaccines or drugs that can stimulate defence against multiple Eimeria species is imperative to control coccidiosis. This study explored Eimeria immune mapped protein-1 (IMP-1) to develop a multiepitope-based vaccine against coccidiosis by identifying antigenic T-cell and B-cell epitope candidates through immunoinformatic techniques. This resulted in the design of 7 CD8+, 21 CD4+ T-cell epitopes and 6 B-cell epitopes, connected using AAY, GPGPG and KK linkers to form a vaccine construct. A Cholera Toxin B (CTB) adjuvant was attached to the N-terminal of the multiepitope construct to improve the immunogenicity of the vaccine. The designed vaccine was assessed for immunogenicity (8.59968), allergenicity and physiochemical parameters, which revealed the construct molecular weight of 73.25 kDa, theoretical pI of 8.23 and instability index of 33.40. Molecular docking simulation of vaccine with TLR-5 with binding affinity of − 151.893 kcal/mol revealed good structural interaction and stability of protein structure of vaccine construct. The designed vaccine predicts the induction of immunity and boosted host's immune system through production of antibodies and cytokines, vital in hindering surface entry of parasites into host. This is a very important step in vaccine development though further experimental study is still required to validate these results.

Identification of potential candidate vaccines against Mycobacterium ulcerans based on the major facilitator superfamily transporter protein

“…The optimal range for the CAI and GC content is 0.8-1.0 and 30-70%, respectively ( 153 ). This indicates the improved expression of the gene in the selected organism without translation errors ( 103 ). Both vaccine constructs were within the optimal ranges, indicating improved expression of both the sequences.…”

“…The docked complexes, bound, and unbound MEV constructs underwent molecular dynamic simulations (MDS) using the AMBER 14 and 18 packages ( 101 , 102 ). This was carried out to evaluate the stability of the complex and the interactions between the proteins ( 103 ). The proteins were described using FF14SB ( 104 ).…”

Vaccines against chicken coccidiosis with particular reference to previous decade: progress, challenges, and opportunities

“…Well-organized cocktail of antigens from different life cycle stages of Eimeria have shown to offer promising immune protection. Recently, a multiepitope vaccine employing cholera toxin adjuvant was designed by immunoinformatic method (Madlala et al 2021). In this scenario, development of a vaccine comprised of multiple antigens from different species of chicken Eimeria is signposted.…”

Mutation Pattern in the Receptor Binding Motif of SARS-Cov-2 Variants and the Effect on Molecular Interactions in Docked Ligand Complexes

“…The molecular dynamics production was run 200 ns of NPT (constant number N, pressure P, and temperature T), where equilibration of the system was reached at 300 K for another 2 ns at a pressure of 1 bar. After molecular dynamic simulation, the PTRAJ and CPPTRAJ modules in AMBER 14 were used to analyse parameters: Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD), Root Mean Square Fluctuations (RMSF), and Region of Gyration (RoG) 17 .…”

“…Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to evaluate complex stability and interactions between the docked complexes. 17 The atompositional root-mean-square deviation (RMSD), a measure for the positional divergence of one or multiple atoms, is one of the most commonly used plot types in the field of biophysical simulations. The RMSD of all complexes were comparable indicating stable interactions of zafirlukast with the RBM variants (Figure 2).…”