In silico-based vaccine design against Ebola virus glycoprotein

Abstract

Raju Dash,1 Rasel Das,2 Md Junaid,3 Md Forhad Chowdhury Akash,4 Ashekul Islam,5 SM Zahid Hosen1 1Molecular Modeling and Drug Design Laboratory (MMDDL), Pharmacology Research Division, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Chittagong, Bangladesh; 2Nanotechnology and Catalysis Research Center, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 3Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 4Department of Pharmacy, BGC Trust University Bangladesh, Chittagong, Bangladesh; 5Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh Abstract: Ebola virus (EBOV) is one of the lethal viruses, causing more than 24 epidemic outbreaks to date. Despite having available molecular knowledge of this virus, no definite vaccine or other remedial agents have been developed yet for the management and avoidance of EBOV infections in humans. Disclosing this, the present study described an epitope-based peptide vaccine against EBOV, using a combination of B-cell and T-cell epitope predictions, followed by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation approach. Here, protein sequences of all glycoproteins of EBOV were collected and examined via in silico methods to determine the most immunogenic protein. From the identified antigenic protein, the peptide region ranging from 186 to 220 and the sequence HKEGAFFLY from the positions of 154–162 were considered the most potential B-cell and T-cell epitopes, correspondingly. Moreover, this peptide (HKEGAFFLY) interacted with HLA-A*32:15 with the highest binding energy and stability, and also a good conservancy of 83.85% with maximum population coverage. The results imply that the designed epitopes could manifest vigorous enduring defensive immunity against EBOV. Keywords: Ebola virus, epitope, glycoprotein, vaccine design

Keywords

• Ebola Virus
• Epitope
• Glycoprotein
• Vaccine Design.