Computational analysis in designing HLA restricted T-cell epitopes enriched peptides of dengue envelope protein.

Abstract

Dengue virus (DENV) envelope protein is considered as an important target for vaccine development as it exhibits receptor binding sites responsible for viral cell attachment and entry. In this study, immunoinformatics approach was applied to design a vaccine peptide candidate containing multiple HLA restricted T cell epitopes against dengue virus envelope protein of serotype II (most infectious serotype). Six T cell prediction tools were used to find peptides having CD8+ and CD4+ T cell epitopes in nine conserved fragments (≥ 70 %) obtained after conservancy analysis, followed by identification overlapping CD8+ and CD4+ T cell epitopes. The peptides containing both CD8+ and CD4+ T cells were screened for screening allergic, autoimmune and toxic response. Molecular docking by molecular virtual docker and CABS dock revealed that the identified peptides have strong binding affinities and RMSD values with most of the HLA class I and II molecules. IEDB population coverage was done across various geographical regions. Four out of five peptides have shown an average population coverage > 92% across various regions. Hence, it is suggested that these peptides may be considered as potential candidates for synthetic peptide vaccine against DENV.