Zika virus vaccine design based on epitopes

Zika virus, a member of the Flaviviridae family, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, poses aglobal health threat, causing microcephaly in newborns. Despite extensive research, no approvedvaccine for Zika virus exists.We propose a novel Zika virus vaccine design. Initial epitope extractionfrom the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) was followed by assessment for allergenicity, toxicity, andimmunogenicity using ToxinPred, AllerTop, and Vaxijen servers, respectively. Confirmed majorhistocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) epitopes were linked with an AAY linker, while MHC classII epitopes were connected using a GPGPG linker. B cell epitopes were linked with a KK linker. Anadjuvant, interleukin-۱۲ (partial), was incorporated from the NCBI database, and a His-Tag (۶-Hnumbers) was added for purification.The designed vaccine underwent comprehensive evaluation forallergenicity, toxicity, and immunogenicity. It molecular weight was ۳۸ K daltons, with an isoelectricpoint of ۷.۰۳, indicating stability. Structural analysis confirmed a favorable structure, exhibiting ۹۹.۵%similarity with c۶sffA. Molecular docking simulations with the HDock server demonstrated promisinginteractions with MHC class I (Docking score: -۲۵۲.۶۶) and MHC class II (Docking score: -۲۵۷.۶۹)representative proteins, suggesting a promising approach to combat Zika virus infection.

کلیدواژه ها:

Max ، Zika ، Virus ، Vaccine ، B-cells ، Epitopes