Design of Epitope Based Peptide Vaccine against Brucella Abortus OmpW Family Protein using Immunoinformatics

Brucella abortus is a small aerobic, non-spore-forming, non-motile intracellular coccobacilli localized in the reproductive organs of host animals and causes acute or chronic disorders. It infects approximately 200 cases per 100,000 of the population and has become endemic in many countries. OmpW family protein is an outer membrane protein involved in the initial interaction between the pathogen and its host. This study predicts an effective epitope-based vaccine against OmpW family protein of Brucella abortus using immunoinformatics tools. Sequences were obtained from NCBI and prediction tests were accomplished to analyze possible epitopes for B and T cells. Seven B cell epitopes passed the antigenicity, accessibility and hydrophilicity tests. Forty-three MHC I epitopes were the most promising, while 438 from MHC II. For the population coverage, the epitopes covered 99.97% of the alleles worldwide excluding certain MHC II alleles. We recommend invivo and invitro studies to prove its effectiveness.