Multi-epitope peptide vaccines targeting dengue virus serotype 2 created via immunoinformatic analysis

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 17645 - 22
• Main Authors: Morgan, Radwa N., Ismail, Nasser S. M., Alshahrani, Mohammad Y., Aboshanab, Khaled M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 31.07.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/326/421; 631/326/590; 631/326/596; Allergenicity; Antigenicity; Computational Biology - methods; Cytotoxicity; Dengue - immunology; Dengue - prevention & control; Dengue - virology; Dengue fever; Dengue Vaccines - immunology; Dengue Virus - immunology; Dengue viruses; DENV-2; Envelope E; Epitopes; Epitopes - chemistry; Epitopes - immunology; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte - immunology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Immune response; Lymphocytes T; Major histocompatibility complex; Molecular dynamics; Molecular Dynamics Simulation; multidisciplinary; Nonstructural protein 1 (NS1); Peptide vaccine; Peptides; Population studies; Protein Subunit Vaccines; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Serogroup; Serotypes; TLR4 protein; Toll-like receptors; Vaccines; Vaccines, Subunit - immunology; Vector-borne diseases; Viral Envelope Proteins - immunology; Viral Nonstructural Proteins - immunology; DENV-2; Antigenicity; Toxicity; Dengue viruses; Nonstructural protein 1 (NS1); Envelope E; Peptide vaccine; Epitopes; Allergenicity
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-67553-1

The Middle East has witnessed a greater spread of infectious Dengue viruses, with serotype 2 (DENV-2) being the most prevalent form. Through this work, multi-epitope peptide vaccines against DENV-2 that target E and nonstructural (NS1) proteins were generated through an immunoinformatic approach. MHC class I and II and LBL epitopes among NS1 and envelope E proteins sequences were predicted and their antigenicity, toxicity, and allergenicity were investigated. Studies of the population coverage denoted the high prevalence of NS1 and envelope-E epitopes among different countries where DENV-2 endemic. Further, both the CTL and HTL epitopes retrieved from NS1 epitopes exhibited high conservancies’ percentages with other DENV serotypes (1, 3, and 4). Three vaccine constructs were created and the expected immune responses for the constructs were estimated using C-IMMSIM and HADDOCK (against TLR 2,3,4,5, and 7). Molecular dynamics simulation for vaccine construct 2 with TLR4 denoted high binding affinity and stability of the construct with the receptor which might foretell favorable in vivo interaction and immune responses.