Epitope vaccine design for Toxoplasma gondii based on a genome-wide database of membrane proteins

Abstract

Background There is presently no effective and safe vaccine for Toxoplasma gondii for humans. The study described here was designed to search for a novel group of optimal B cell and T cell epitopes from Toxoplasma membrane proteins using genome-wide comprehensive screening. Methods The amino acid sequences of membrane proteins of T. gondii were obtained from the UniProt database. The ABCPred and BepiPred servers were employed to predict the linear B cell epitopes. The Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) online service was utilized to forecast T cell epitopes within T. gondii membrane proteins that bind to human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I (HLA-I) or HLA-II molecules. Results From the 314 membrane proteins of T. gondii, a total of 14 linear B cell epitopes embedded in 12 membrane proteins were identified. Eight epitopes for major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I (MHC-I) molecules and 18 epitopes for MHC-II molecules were ultimately selected, for which world population coverage percentiles were 71.94% and 99.76%, respectively. The top rated combinations of linear B cell epitopes and T cell epitopes covering both BALB/c mice and a majority of the human population were identified for the development of a protective vaccine. Conclusions The ultimate vaccine construct described here, which comprises B cells, MHC-I and MHC-II epitopes, might protect individuals against T. gondii infection by inducing humoral and cellular immune responses. Graphic abstract

In Silico Vaccine Design and Expression of the Multi-Component Protein Candidate against the Toxoplasma gondii Parasite from MIC13, GRA1, and SAG1 Antigens

“…Since the spread of bioinformatics, several studies have been conducted with an in silico approach on different Toxoplasma antigens for vaccine design. In 2022, Li et al used T and B cell epitopes of T. gondii membrane proteins to design a vaccine ( 34 ).…”