A subunit vaccine against pneumonia: targeting Streptococcus pneumoniae and Klebsiella pneumoniae

The objective of this work was to develop an immunogenic multi-epitope subunit vaccine capable of eliciting a robust immune response againstS. pneumoniae andK. pneumoniae. The targeted proteins were the pneumococcal surface proteins (PspA and PspC) and choline-binding protein (CbpA) ofS. pneumoniae and the outer membrane proteins (OmpA and OmpW) ofK. pneumoniae. Different computational approaches and various immune filters were employed for designing a vaccine. The immunogenicity and safety of the vaccine were evaluated by utilizing many physicochemical and antigenic profiles. To improve structural stability, disulfide engineering was applied to a portion of the vaccine structure with high mobility. Molecular docking was performed to examine the binding affinities and biological interactions at the atomic level between the vaccine and Toll-like receptors (TLR2 and 4). Further, the dynamic stabilities of the vaccine and TLRs complexes were investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. While the immune response induction capability of the vaccine was assessed by the immune simulation study. Vaccine translation and expression efficiency was determined through an in silico cloning experiment utilizing the pET28a(+) plasmid vector. The obtained results revealed that the designed vaccine is structurally stable and able to generate an effective immune response to combat pneumococcal infection.
Source: Network Modeling Analysis in Health Informatics and Bioinformatics - Category: Bioinformatics Source Type: research