%0 Journal Article
%T Design of a multi-epitope vaccine against goatpox virus using an immunoinformatics approach.
%A Long Q
%A Wei M
%A Wang Y
%A Pang F
%J Front Cell Infect Microbiol
%V 13
%N 0
%D 2023
%M 38487680
%F 6.073
%R 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1309096
%X UNASSIGNED: Goatpox, a severe infectious disease caused by goatpox virus (GTPV), leads to enormous economic losses in the livestock industry. Traditional live attenuated vaccines cause serious side effects and exist a risk of dispersal. Therefore, it is urgent to develop efficient and safer vaccines to prevent and control of GTPV.
UNASSIGNED: In the present study, we are aimed to design a multi-epitope subunit vaccine against GTPV using an immunoinformatics approach. Various immunodominant cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) epitopes, helper T lymphocytes (HTL) epitopes, and B-cell epitopes from P32, L1R, and 095 proteins of GTPV were screened and liked by the AAY, GPGPG, and KK connectors, respectively. Furthermore, an adjuvant β-defensin was attached to the vaccine's N-terminal using the EAAAK linker to enhance immunogenicity.
UNASSIGNED: The constructed vaccine was soluble, non-allergenic and non-toxic and exhibited high levels of antigenicity and immunogenicity. The vaccine's 3D structure was subsequently predicted, refined and validated, resulting in an optimized model with a Z-value of -3.4. Molecular docking results demonstrated that the vaccine had strong binding affinity with TLR2(-27.25 kcal/mol), TLR3(-39.84 kcal/mol), and TLR4(-59.42 kcal/mol). Molecular dynamics simulation results indicated that docked vaccine-TLR complexes were stable. Immune simulation analysis suggested that the vaccine can induce remarkable increase in antibody titers of IgG and IgM, higher levels of IFN-γ and IL-2.
UNASSIGNED: The designed GTPV multi-epitope vaccine is structurally stable and can induce robust humoral and cellular immune responses, which may be a promising vaccine candidate against GTPV.