Novel Multi Epitope-based Vaccine against Monkeypox Virus: Vaccinomic approach

Abstract

Background: While mankind is still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, on May 7, 2022, a case of monkeypox virus (MPXV) has been reported to the WHO. Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease with characteristics comparable to those seen in smallpox cases in the past. It has been a public health threat, particularly in Africa, but recently have been circulating the world, consequently, may become a global public health threat in a very short period. Thus, the current work was planned and then constructed a multi-epitope vaccine that can evoke an immunological response against MPXV utilizing cell surface-binding protein as a target in order to develop a novel vaccine that is both safe and almost free of side effects. Results: The proposed vaccine composed of 304 amino acids and was shown to be antigenic in Vaxijen server (0. 5311) and nonallergenic in AllerTop server. The 3D structure of the designed vaccine is predicted, refined and validated by various in silico tools to assess the stability of the vaccine. Moreover, solubility of the vaccine construct was found greater than the average solubility provided by protein-Sol server indicating the solubility of the vaccine construct. Moreover, the most promising epitopes bound to MHC I and MHC II alleles were found having good binding affinities with low energies ranging between ₋7.0 - ₋8.1kcal/mol. Conclusion: We conclude from our research that the cell surface-binding protein is one of the primary proteins involved in MPXV pathogenesis. The most promising epitopes were selected using a rigorous procedure and used for vaccine design. As a result, our study will aid in the development of appropriate therapeutics and prompt the development of future vaccines against MPXV, which could serve as an important milestone in the production of an antiviral vaccine against MPXV.

Identification of B and T Cell Epitopes to Design an Epitope-Based Peptide Vaccine against the Cell Surface Binding Protein of Monkeypox Virus: An Immunoinformatics Study

“…Additionally, a considerable number of hydrogen bonds (17) and interfering amino acid residues (22) were also present in the docked complex. The binding energy of the epitope to the HLA-B * 15:01 receptor was found to be -7.5 kcal/mol as per our study, which is lower than the binding energy of YVLSTIHIY to HLA-DRB1 (−7.1 kcal/mole) according to the in silico analysis of Shantier et al [13]. After molecular docking, a molecular dynamic simulation study was performed to determine the receptor and epitope's molecular characteristics.…”

“…Previously, smallpox vaccine Dryvax was most commonly used to treat both smallpox and mPox [12,13]. Since late 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on the entire world, unequivocally highlighting the necessity of prophylactic measures in the early phases for the emerging viruses like MPV.…”

“…The MPV possesses a number of virulence factors which may help the virus to propagate within the host cell and circumvent the immune defenses. Shantier et al reported that the cell surface binding protein of mPox plays a role in the pathogenesis of the virus [13]. The MPV virion membranes contain the cell surface binding protein E8L, which plays a crucial role in the attachment to the host cells [14].…”

Novel Multi-Epitope Vaccine candidate derived from critically important proteins of Monkeypox isolates

“…The first documented monkeypox cases in the Western hemisphere was reported in the United States during 2003. The recent cases of monkeypox virus infection and its multi-country outbreak is detected outside the endemic areas of Africa in May 2022 3,4,5 . The MPXV encodes approximately 191 proteins as revealed from its genome (GCF_000857045.1_ViralProj15142_genomic) 6,7 .…”