Identification of Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) Epitope and design of an immunogenic multi-epitope of Bovine Ephemeral Fever Virus (BEFV) Glycoprotein G for Vaccine Development

• Published in: Research in veterinary science 2022-05, Vol.144, p.18-26
• Main Authors: Mollazadeh, Shima, Bakhshesh, Mehran, Keyvanfar, Hadi, Nikbakht Brujeni, Gholamreza
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Allergenicity; Amino acid sequence; Animals; Anticoagulants; Antigenicity; Antigens; BEFV G protein; Biocompatibility; Bovine ephemeral fever; Cattle; Cattle Diseases; Cell culture; Chimeras; Cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitope; Cytotoxicity; Disease; Ephemeral Fever - prevention & control; Ephemeral Fever Virus, Bovine; Epitopes; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; Fever; Gene amplification; Glycoprotein G; Glycoproteins; Immune response; Immune system; Immunogenicity; In vivo methods and tests; Infectious diseases; Informatics; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes T; Multi-epitope; Mutation; Peptide mapping; Physicochemical properties; Protein structure; Proteins; Subtropical zones; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic; Thermal cycling; Toxicity; Toxicity testing; Vaccine Development; Vaccines; Vector-borne diseases; Veterinary medicine; Viral infections; Viruses
• ISSN: 0034-5288; 1532-2661
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2021.12.023

Bovine ephemeral fever (BEF), a vector-borne disease of cattle and water buffalo, is enzootic in tropical and subtropical zones of Asia, Australia, and Africa. Since cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) responses may play a key role in the control of bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) infection, it is important to identify and characterize the CTL target epitopes of BEFV antigens. The current study has been designed to identify and characterize the potential CTL epitopes using the Immuno-informatics tools, and it helped find the potent vaccine candidates against BEF. Antigenicity, toxicity, allergenicity, and immunogenicity testing of predicted CTL epitopes was done. Total four CTL epitopes for BEFV G protein, have been identified as potential epitopes. Prediction of the 3D structure of multi-epitope (final structure) was performed using I-TASSER server. Model 1 was selected as the best model with C-Score: −3.71. The modeled G protein structure and multi-epitope structure were validated by the Ramachandran plots Prosa and Verify 3D server. Epitopic regions of 3D protein structure were identified by Chimera UCSF software. Physicochemical properties of the Multi epitope were evaluated using ProtParam server. This is the first report of CTL epitope in the G protein of BEFV. In this manner, they would play an important role in evoking the immune response as well as vaccine development. However, in vitro and in vivo experimental studies are required for suggested epitopes verification. The multi-epitope was designed from regions of the G protein sequence that lacked mutation and genomic diversity. Therefore, it can be introduced as a protein vaccine from all strains of BEFV as a vaccine candidate for design. •Bovine ephemeral fever (BEF), could led to significant economic loss.•Deploying a specific surveillance system as well as large-scale vaccination is required.•Epitope mapping is important in vaccine development.•Epitope-based vaccine via humoral and cellular immune response activation, trigger long-lasting protection against many strains of virus.•Epitope based vaccine prevent BEF-related mortality and economic loss.