Epitope-based peptide vaccine against glycoprotein G of Nipah henipavirus using immunoinformatics approaches

Abstract

BackgroundNipah virus (NiV) is a member of the genus Henipavirus of the family Paramyxoviridae, characterized by high pathogenicity and endemic in South Asia, first emerged in Malaysia in 1998. The case-fatality varies from 40% to 70% depending on the severity of the disease and on the availability of adequate healthcare facilities. At present no antiviral drugs are available for NiV disease and the treatment is just supportive. Clinical presentation ranges from asymptomatic infection to fatal encephalitis. Bats are the main reservoir for this virus, which can cause disease in humans and animals. The last investigated NiV outbreak has occurred in May 2018 in Kerala.\n\nObjectiveThis study aims to predict effective epitope-based vaccine against glycoprotein G of Nipah henipavirus using immunoinformatics approaches.\n\nMethods and MaterialsGlycoprotein G of Nipah henipavirus sequence was retrieved from NCBI. Different prediction tools were used to analyze the nominees epitopes in BepiPred-2.0: Sequential B-Cell Epitope Predictor for B-cell, T-cell MHC class II & I. Then the proposed peptides were docked using Autodock 4.0 software program.\n\nResults and ConclusionsPeptide TVYHCSAVY shows a very strong binding affinity to MHC I alleles while FLIDRINWI shows a very strong binding affinity to MHC II and MHC I alleles. This indicates a strong potential to formulate a new vaccine, especially with the peptide FLIDRINWI that is likely to be the first proposed epitope-based vaccine against glycoprotein G of Nipah henipavirus. This study recommends an in-vivo assessment for the most promising peptides especially FLIDRINWI.