Finding epitopes of Klebsiella pneumoniae outer membrane protein-K17 (OMPK17) and introducing a 25-mer peptide of it as a vaccine candidate

Abstract

No approved vaccine exists for Klebsiella pneumoniae yet. Outer membrane protein-K17 (OMPK17) is involved in K. pneumoniae pathogenesis. No information has been found about OMPK17 dominant epitopes in the literature. Therefore, this study aimed to predict both T cell and B cell epitopes of K. pneumoniae OMPK17 via immunoinformatics approaches. Both T cell (class-I and II) and B cell (linear and discontinuous) epitopes of OMPK17 were predicted. Several screening analyses were performed including clustering, immunogenicity, human similarity, toxicity, allergenicity, conservancy, docking, and structural/physicochemical suitability. The results showed that some regions of OMPK17 have more potential as epitopes. The most possible epitopes were found via several analyses including the selection of higher-scoring epitopes, the epitopes predicted with more tools, more immunogenic epitopes, the epitopes capable of producing interferon-gamma, the epitopes with more dissimilarity to human peptides, and non-toxic and non-allergenic epitopes. By comparing the best T cell and B cell epitopes, we reached a 25-mer peptide containing both T cell (class-I and class-II) and B cell (linear) epitopes and comprising appropriate physicochemical characteristics that are required for K. pneumoniae vaccine development. The in vitro/in vivo study of this peptide is recommended to clarify its actual efficiency and efficacy. Keywords Epitope • Immunoinformatics• Klebsiella pneumoniae • Outer membrane protein-K17 • Physicochemical characteristics Abbreviations CPORT Consensus prediction of interface residues in transient complexes GQE Global Quality Estimate GRAVY Grand average of hydropathicity index HLA Human leukocyte antigen IFN-γ Inte rferon-gamma LQE Local Quality Estimate OMP Outer membrane protein OMPK17 Outer membrane protein-K17 pI Isoelectric pH QMEAN Qualitative model energy analysis SDAP Structural database of allergenic proteins * Mosayeb Rostamian

Design and validation of a multi-epitope vaccine candidate against Acinetobacter baumannii using advanced computational methods

“…Conformational B epitope prediction was done with Discotop2.0 (http://tools.iedb.org/discotope/) and Ellipro (http://tools.iedb.org/ellipro/). The working principles were the same as in previous studies 17,20,23 .…”

Scope of Development of Vaccine against Antibiotic Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae: Current Perspective

“…The most frequently used animal model was BALB/c mice. Proteins, polysaccharides, and their combinations (conjugates) were the most common vaccine candidates used 17 . The amount of antigen, the route used for immunization, and the challenge strategy was varying in the studies and were chosen based on several factors such as the animal model, the type of antigen, and the schedule of immunization 18 .…”