Immunoinformatics Approach to Design a Multi-Epitope Vaccine against Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL), a neglected vector-borne disease caused by protozoan parasite Leishmania major (<i>L. major</i>), is a major public health concern, and the development of new strategies to reduce the disease incidence has become a top priority. Advances in immunoinformatics...

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Main Authors: Shumaila Naz, Aiman Aroosh, Ayse Caner, Esra Atalay Şahar, Seray Toz, Yusuf Ozbel, Sumra Wajid Abbasi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-02-01
Series:Vaccines
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/11/2/339
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author Shumaila Naz
Aiman Aroosh
Ayse Caner
Esra Atalay Şahar
Seray Toz
Yusuf Ozbel
Sumra Wajid Abbasi
author_facet Shumaila Naz
Aiman Aroosh
Ayse Caner
Esra Atalay Şahar
Seray Toz
Yusuf Ozbel
Sumra Wajid Abbasi
author_sort Shumaila Naz
collection DOAJ
description Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL), a neglected vector-borne disease caused by protozoan parasite Leishmania major (<i>L. major</i>), is a major public health concern, and the development of new strategies to reduce the disease incidence has become a top priority. Advances in immunoinformatics and in-silico epitope prediction could be a promising approach to designing a finest vaccine candidate. In this study, we aimed to design a peptide-based vaccine against CL using computational tools and identified ten B-cell-derived T-cell epitopes from the glycoprotein gp63 of <i>L. major</i>. All of the potential immunodominant epitopes were used to design a vaccine construct along with a linker and an adjuvant at the N-terminal for enhancing its immunogenicity. Additionally, many characteristics of the proposed vaccine were examined, and it was confirmed to be non-allergenic, non-toxic, and thermally stable. To assess the vaccine interaction with the innate immune toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4), a 3D structure of the vaccine construct was developed. Molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation were used to confirm the binding and to assess the stability of the vaccine-TLR4 complex and interactions, respectively. In conclusion, our multi-epitope vaccine will provide a gateway to analyze the protein function of a potential vaccine candidate against CL.
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spelling doaj.art-632d0f3476a84359bf3eab9c6527303c2023-11-16T23:43:04ZengMDPI AGVaccines2076-393X2023-02-0111233910.3390/vaccines11020339Immunoinformatics Approach to Design a Multi-Epitope Vaccine against Cutaneous LeishmaniasisShumaila Naz0Aiman Aroosh1Ayse Caner2Esra Atalay Şahar3Seray Toz4Yusuf Ozbel5Sumra Wajid Abbasi6Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi 46000, PakistanDepartment of Biological Sciences, National University of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi 46000, PakistanDepartment of Parasitology, Turkey Cancer Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Bornova, 35100 Izmir, TurkeyDepartment of Parasitology, Turkey Cancer Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Bornova, 35100 Izmir, TurkeyDepartment of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Bornova, 35100 Izmir, TurkeyDepartment of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Bornova, 35100 Izmir, TurkeyDepartment of Biological Sciences, National University of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi 46000, PakistanCutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL), a neglected vector-borne disease caused by protozoan parasite Leishmania major (<i>L. major</i>), is a major public health concern, and the development of new strategies to reduce the disease incidence has become a top priority. Advances in immunoinformatics and in-silico epitope prediction could be a promising approach to designing a finest vaccine candidate. In this study, we aimed to design a peptide-based vaccine against CL using computational tools and identified ten B-cell-derived T-cell epitopes from the glycoprotein gp63 of <i>L. major</i>. All of the potential immunodominant epitopes were used to design a vaccine construct along with a linker and an adjuvant at the N-terminal for enhancing its immunogenicity. Additionally, many characteristics of the proposed vaccine were examined, and it was confirmed to be non-allergenic, non-toxic, and thermally stable. To assess the vaccine interaction with the innate immune toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4), a 3D structure of the vaccine construct was developed. Molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation were used to confirm the binding and to assess the stability of the vaccine-TLR4 complex and interactions, respectively. In conclusion, our multi-epitope vaccine will provide a gateway to analyze the protein function of a potential vaccine candidate against CL.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/11/2/339<i>Leishmania major</i>cutaneous leishmaniasisglycoproteintoll-like receptor-4molecular dynamic simulation
spellingShingle Shumaila Naz
Aiman Aroosh
Ayse Caner
Esra Atalay Şahar
Seray Toz
Yusuf Ozbel
Sumra Wajid Abbasi
Immunoinformatics Approach to Design a Multi-Epitope Vaccine against Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
Vaccines
<i>Leishmania major</i>
cutaneous leishmaniasis
glycoprotein
toll-like receptor-4
molecular dynamic simulation
title Immunoinformatics Approach to Design a Multi-Epitope Vaccine against Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
title_full Immunoinformatics Approach to Design a Multi-Epitope Vaccine against Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
title_fullStr Immunoinformatics Approach to Design a Multi-Epitope Vaccine against Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
title_full_unstemmed Immunoinformatics Approach to Design a Multi-Epitope Vaccine against Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
title_short Immunoinformatics Approach to Design a Multi-Epitope Vaccine against Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
title_sort immunoinformatics approach to design a multi epitope vaccine against cutaneous leishmaniasis
topic <i>Leishmania major</i>
cutaneous leishmaniasis
glycoprotein
toll-like receptor-4
molecular dynamic simulation
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/11/2/339
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