article · Scientific Reports
Onchocerciasis, a parasitic disease with significant socio-economic impact, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, faces challenges in its elimination. This research used an immuno-informatics approach to design a multi-epitope subunit vaccine peptide. The aim was to create a prophylactic or therapeutic vaccine targeting the infective L3 and microfilaria stages of the parasite. The design incorporated linear B-cell and T-cell epitopes from proteins identified as potential vaccine candidates. The conservation of these proteins and epitopes across other parasitic nematodes suggests potential for cross-protection. The 3D structure of the vaccine candidate was predicted, refined, and validated using bioinformatics tools. Protein-protein docking indicated efficient binding with the TLR4 protein, and immune simulations predicted strong immune responses, including high levels of IgG1, T-helper, T-cytotoxic cells, INF-γ, and IL-2. The constructed recombinant peptide demonstrated superior antigenicity compared to current vaccine candidates.
Onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, is a debilitating parasitic disease prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, and its elimination faces significant hurdles. Developing an effective vaccine is crucial for disease control. This research offers a promising computational design for a vaccine that could protect against this and potentially other related parasitic infections, contributing to global health efforts.
This early-stage research presents an in-silico designed multi-epitope vaccine candidate for onchocerciasis and potentially other filarial diseases. If successfully developed and tested through further experimental validation, it could lead to a prophylactic or therapeutic vaccine. This would benefit public health organisations and affected communities, offering a new tool for disease control and elimination, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Abstract Onchocerciasis is a parasitic disease with high socio-economic burden particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The elimination plan for this disease has faced numerous challenges. A multi-epitope prophylactic/therapeutic vaccine targeting the infective L3 and microfilaria stages of the parasite’s life cycle would be invaluable to achieve the current elimination goal. There are several observations that make the possibility of developing a vaccine against this disease likely. For example, despite being exposed to high transmission rates of infection, 1 to 5% of people have no clinical manifestations of the disease and are thus considered as putatively immune individuals. An immuno-informatics approach was applied to design a filarial multi-epitope subunit vaccine peptide consisting of linear B-cell and T-cell epitopes of proteins reported to be potential novel vaccine candidates. Conservation of the selected proteins and predicted epitopes in other parasitic nematode species suggests that the generated chimera could be helpful for cross-protection. The 3D structure was predicted, refined, and validated using bioinformatics tools. Protein-protein docking of the chimeric vaccine peptide with the TLR4 protein predicted efficient binding. Immune simulation predicted significantly high levels of IgG 1 , T-helper, T-cytotoxic cells, INF-γ, and IL-2. Overall, the constructed recombinant putative peptide demonstrated antigenicity superior to current vaccine candidates.
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DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-40833-x
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