Consensus-Guided Construction of H5N1-Specific and Universal Influenza a Multiepitope Vaccines

Influenza A viruses-including highly pathogenic H5N1-remain a global threat due to rapid evolution, zoonoses, and pandemic potential. Strain-specific vaccines targeting variable antigens often yield limited, short-lived immunity. The HA receptor-binding domain (RBD), a functionally constrained and immunologically relevant region, is a promising target for broad and subtype-focused vaccines. We aimed to design multiepitope constructs targeting conserved HA-RBD and adjacent domains to elicit robust, durable, cross-protective responses.

Extensive sequence analyses (>20,000 H5N1 and >190,000 influenza A sequences) were used to derive consensus sequences. Three HA-based candidates were developed: (i) EpitoCore-HA-VX, a multi-epitope construct containing CTL, HTL, and B-cell epitopes from the H5N1 HA-RBD; (ii) StructiRBD-HA-VX, incorporating a conformationally preserved RBD segment; and (iii) FusiCon-HA-VX, targeting the conserved HA fusion peptide shared across subtypes. Two external HA comparators-a 400-aa HA fragment and the literature-reported HA-13-263-Fd-His-were analyzed under the same pipeline. The workflow predicted epitopes; evaluated antigenicity, allergenicity, toxicity, conservation, and HLA coverage; generated AlphaFold models; performed TLR2/TLR4 docking with pyDockWEB; and carried out interface analysis with PDBsum; and C-ImmSim simulations.

Models suggested stable, energetically favorable TLR2/TLR4 interfaces supported by substantial binding surfaces and complementary electrostatic/desolvation profiles. Distinct docking patterns indicated receptor-binding flexibility. Immune simulations predicted strong humoral responses with modeled memory formation and, for the H5N1-focused designs, cytotoxic T-cell activity. All candidates and comparators were predicted to be antigenic, non-allergenic, and non-toxic, with combined HLA coverage approaching global breadth.

This study compares three design strategies within a harmonized framework-epitope collation, structure-preserved RBD, and fusion-peptide targeting-while benchmarking against two HA comparators. EpitoCore-HA-VX and StructiRBD-HA-VX showed promise against diverse H5N1 isolates, whereas FusiCon-HA-VX supported cross-subtype coverage. As these findings are model-based, they should be interpreted qualitatively; nonetheless, the integrated, structure-guided approach provides an adaptable path for advancing targeted H5N1 and broader influenza A vaccine concepts.