Designing of a novel and potent HPV66 L1 major capsid protein-epitope based therapeutic vaccine against Human Papillomavirus (HPV): A bioinformatics approach

Abstract

Aim: Oncogenic human papillomaviruses (HPV) cause various types of cancer, including cervical cancer. The main protein of HPV is capsid, targeted in many vaccine attempts. However, these vaccines do not cover enough high-risk HPV serotypes. Therefore, a low-cost potential HPV vaccine to protect against all serovars of the α-papillomaviruses family would be promising in the future. Our study aimed to develop a therapeutic epitope vaccine for HPV using bioinformatics methods. Methodology: Bioinformatics approach was followed to analyze and identify potential T-cell and B-cell dominant epitopes of HPV-66 L1 major capsid protein. Additionally, various aspects of this protein were examined, including its physico-chemical properties, and secondary and tertiary structures. These analyses helped us to design an effective HPV infection therapeutic vaccine. Results: The findings revealed that the L1 major capsid protein was unstable and hydrophilic. The secondary structure of this protein composed 39% α- helices, 17.97% β sheets and 31.80% loops. Our study demonstrated 19 dominant epitopes of HPV-66 L1 major capsid protein including 5 B-cell epitopes and 14 T-cell epitopes (10 HTL epitopes, and 4 CTL epitopes) for a novel vaccine candidate. Interpretation: This study provides a comprehensive biological information about the HPV-66 L1 major capsid protein, which will serve as a theoretical foundation for developing a multi-epitope vaccine against HPV infection. Key words: B-cell epitope, Cervical Cancer, Human papillomavirus, HPV66 L1 major capsid protein, T-cell epitope