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Updated: Aug 7, 2025
A High Throughput MHC II Binding Assay for Quantitative Analysis of Peptide Epitopes
Published on: March 25, 2014
Immunogenic multi-epitope-based vaccine development to combat cyclosporiasis of immunocompromised patients applying
Shakil Ahmed1, Mohammad Nahian Rahman1, Mahamudul Hasan1
1Faculty of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet, 3100, Bangladesh.
Abstract:
Cyclospora cayetanensis infections, also known as cyclosporiasis, persist to be the prevalent emerging protozoan parasite and an opportunist that causes digestive illness in immunocompromised individuals. In contrast, this causal agent can affect people of all ages, with children and foreigners being the most susceptible populations. For most immunocompetent patients, the disease is self-limiting; in extreme circumstances, this illness can manifest as severe or persistent diarrhea as well as colonize on secondary digestive organs leading to death. According to recent reports, worldwide 3.55% of people are infected by this pathogen, with Asia and Africa being more prevalent. For the treatment, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is the only licensed drug and does not appear to work as well in some patient populations. Therefore, the much more effective strategy to avoid this illness is immunization through the vaccine. This present study uses immunoinformatics for identifying a computational multi-epitope-based peptide vaccine candidate for Cyclospora cayetanensis. Following the review of the literature, a highly efficient, secure, and vaccine complex based on multi-epitopes was designed by utilizing the identified proteins. These selected proteins were then used to predict non-toxic and antigenic HTL-epitopes, B-cell-epitopes, and CTL-epitopes. Ultimately, both a few linkers and an adjuvant were combined to create a vaccine candidate with superior immunological epitopes. Then, to establish the vaccine-TLR complex binding constancy, the TLR receptor and vaccine candidates were placed into the FireDock, PatchDock, and ClusPro servers for molecular docking and iMODS server for molecular-dynamic simulation. Finally, this selected vaccine construct was cloned into Escherichia coli strain-K12; thus, the constructed vaccines against Cyclospora cayetanensiscould improve the host immune response and can be produced experimentally.
Insights
A new multi-epitope vaccine candidate for Cyclospora cayetanensis was designed using immunoinformatics. This computational approach aims to improve host immune response against this emerging protozoan parasite.
Area of Science:
- Parasitology
- Immunology
- Computational Biology
Background:
- Cyclospora cayetanensis causes cyclosporiasis, a digestive illness affecting all ages, particularly children and foreigners.
- Infections can be severe, leading to persistent diarrhea and, in extreme cases, death, with global prevalence at 3.55%.
- Current treatment options like trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole have limitations, highlighting the need for effective vaccines.
Approach:
- This study employed immunoinformatics to design a multi-epitope peptide vaccine candidate against Cyclospora cayetanensis.
- Identified proteins were used to predict non-toxic, antigenic T-cell epitopes (HTL, CTL) and B-cell epitopes.
- Linkers and an adjuvant were incorporated to create a vaccine construct, followed by molecular docking and dynamic simulations to assess TLR receptor binding.
Key Points:
- A computational multi-epitope vaccine candidate was designed for Cyclospora cayetanensis.
- The vaccine construct incorporates predicted antigenic epitopes and an adjuvant for enhanced immunogenicity.
- Molecular docking and simulations confirmed the binding stability of the vaccine candidate with TLR receptors.
Conclusions:
- The designed vaccine construct shows potential for improving host immune response against Cyclospora cayetanensis.
- The study successfully identified and computationally validated a multi-epitope vaccine candidate.
- The vaccine construct was cloned into E. coli K-12 for potential experimental production and validation.
