A novel multi-epitope peptide vaccine candidate targeting hepatitis E virus: An in silico approach.

Autor: Kumar A; National Institute of Biologicals (NIB), Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India., Sahu U; Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India., Agnihotri G; School of Chemical Technology, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India., Dixit A; Institute of Life Science, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India., Khare P; Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of viral hepatitis [J Viral Hepat] 2024 Aug; Vol. 31 (8), pp. 446-456. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 May 10.
DOI: 10.1111/jvh.13949
Abstrakt: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a foodborne virus transmitted through the faecal-oral route that causes viral hepatitis in humans worldwide. Ever since its discovery as a zoonotic agent, HEV was isolated from several species with an expanding range of hosts. HEV possesses several features of other RNA viruses but also has certain HEV-specific traits that make its viral-host interactions inimitable. HEV leads to severe morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised people and pregnant women across the world. The situation in underdeveloped countries is even more alarming. Even after creating a menace across the world, we still lack an effective vaccine against HEV. Till date, there is only one licensed vaccine for HEV available only in China. The development of an anti-HEV vaccine that can reduce HEV-induced morbidity and mortality is required. Live attenuated and killed vaccines against HEV are not accessible due to the lack of a tolerant cell culture system, slow viral replication kinetics and varying growth conditions. Thus, the main focus for anti-HEV vaccine development is now on the molecular approaches. In the current study, we have designed a multi-epitope vaccine against HEV through a reverse vaccinology approach. For the first time, we have used viral ORF3, capsid protein and polyprotein altogether for epitope prediction. These are crucial for viral replication and persistence and are major vaccine targets against HEV. The proposed in silico vaccine construct comprises of highly immunogenic and antigenic T-cell and B-cell epitopes of HEV proteins. The construct is capable of inducing an effective and long-lasting host immune response as evident from the simulation results. In addition, the construct is stable, non-allergic and antigenic for the host. Altogether, our findings suggest that the in silico vaccine construct may be useful as a vaccine candidate for preventing HEV infections.
(© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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