Multi-Epitope Vaccine Design against Monkeypox Virus via Reverse Vaccinology Method Exploiting Immunoinformatic and...

Area of Science:

• Virology
• Vaccinology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Monkeypox virus is a zoonotic orthopox DNA virus of growing global concern.
• No specific vaccine is currently available, necessitating the development of novel preventative strategies.
• Bioinformatics and immunoinformatics approaches offer powerful tools for rapid vaccine design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and computationally evaluate a potential vaccine against the monkeypox virus.
• To utilize B-cell and T-cell epitopes for a multi-epitope vaccine construct.
• To assess the vaccine's efficacy, safety, and population coverage through in silico methods.

Main Methods:

• A multi-epitope vaccine was designed using B-cell and T-cell epitopes from the MPXVgp181 strain.
• Computational tools were employed to predict antigenicity, allergenicity, toxicity, and population coverage.
• In silico immune simulations and expression/cloning studies in *E. coli* were performed.

Main Results:

• The vaccine construct was predicted to be antigenic, non-allergenic, and non-toxic.
• High global population coverage and a satisfactory immune response were computationally predicted.
• Successful in silico expression and cloning indicated suitability for large-scale production.

Conclusions:

• A promising multi-epitope vaccine candidate against monkeypox virus was computationally designed.
• The vaccine's in silico profile suggests potential for broad efficacy and safety.
• Further in vitro and in vivo validation is warranted to advance this vaccine towards clinical application.