Identification and validation of T-cell epitopes in outer membrane protein (OMP) of Salmonella typhi

This study aims to design epitope-based peptides for the utility of vaccine development by targeting outer membrane protein F (Omp F), because two available licensed vaccines, live oral Ty21a and injectable polysaccharide, are 50% to 80% protective with a higher rate of side effects. Conventional vaccines take longer time for development and have less differentiation power between vaccinated and infected cells. On the other hand, Peptide-based vaccines present few advantages over other vaccines, such as stability of peptide, ease to manufacture, better storage, avoidance of infectious agents during manufacture, and different molecules can be linked with peptides to enhance their immunogenicity. Omp F is highly conserved and facilitates attachment and fusion of Salmonella typhi with host cells. Using various databases and tools, immune parameters of conserved sequences from Omp F of different isolates of Salmonella typhi were tested to predict probable epitopes. Binding analysis of the peptides with MHC molecules, epitopes conservancy, population coverage, and linear B cell epitope prediction were analyzed. Among all those predicted peptides, ESYTDMAPY epitope interacted with six MHC alleles and it shows highest amount of interaction compared to others. The cumulative population coverage for these epitopes as vaccine candidates was approximately 70%. Structural analysis suggested that epitope ESYTDMAPY fitted well into the epitope-binding groove of HLA-C*12:03, as this HLA molecule was common which interact with each and every predicted epitopes. So, this potential epitope may be linked with other molecules to enhance its immunogenicity and used for vaccine development.