Design of a T-cell epitope vaccine against BKRF۴ protein Epstein-Barr virus in Burkitt's lymphoma using immunoinformatics approaches

Backgrounds: Epstein - Barr virus (EBV) is a lymphotropic herpes virus and the causing factorof infectious mononucleosis (IM). It was originally discovered in cells isolated from AfricanBurkitt’s lymphoma. Later on, its widespread prevalence in the world was recognized. In thisstudy, by utilizing immunoinformatics and reverse vaccinology approaches, we design acandidate multi-epitope vaccine against the EBV virus that is likely to be safe and immunogenicagainst the EBV infection.Materials and Methods: First, the BKRF۴ protein sequence was downloaded from theUniProtKB or viPR databases in FASTA format, and then in the Vaxijen v۲.۰ database, theprotein was examined for antigenicity. NetCTL۱.۲ server was used to find peptides that could bedetected by T-cells, and then an IEDB server was used to examine the binding of epitopes todifferent MHC alleles and to evaluate immunogenicity. (Threshold for this model: IC۵۰<۲۰۰)Results: In this study, ۹ T-cell epitopes were predicted. The best epitopes with the highest scoresin MHC-I and MHC-II are equal to : (HLAA*۰۱:۰۱(peptide:VSDTDESDY,IC۵۰=۷۴.۴۰)(peptide: PSDSDESDY,IC۵۰=۷۶.۸۳)) and (HLADRB۱*۰۱:۰۱(peptide:MAMFLKSRGVRSCRD,IC۵۰=۱۷.۰)(peptide:AMFLKSRGVRCRDR,IC۵۰=۱۷.۰)) and the best immunogenicity of peptide ۹ amino acids is :( VSDTDESDY:۰.۰۳۵)Conclusion: Based on the immunoinformatics results obtained, it seems that different epitopesfrom Epstein-Barr Virus structural proteins have a high ability to stimulate humoral and cellularimmune responses, so the epitope vaccine designed with these epitopes, can help to acceleratethe production of effective vaccines against EBV.

کلیدواژه ها:

Immunoinformatics ، T cell epitopes ، Vaccine design ، Epstein-Barr virus