Design of an epitope‐based peptide vaccine against Cryptococcus neoformans
Ibtihal Omer,
Isra Khalil,
Ahmed Abdalmumin,
Philisiwe Fortunate Molefe,
Solima Sabeel,
Islam Zainalabdin Abdalgadir Farh,
Hanaa Abdalla Mohamed,
Hajr Abdallha Elsharif,
ALazza Abdalla Hassan Mohamed,
Mawadda Abd‐Elraheem Awad‐Elkareem,
Mohamed Salih
Affiliations
Ibtihal Omer
Department of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Laboratory National Center for Kidney Diseases and Surgery Khartoum Sudan
Isra Khalil
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medical Laboratory Science Sudan University of Science and Technology Khartoum Sudan
Ahmed Abdalmumin
Biomedical Research Institute Sudan National University Khartoum Sudan
Philisiwe Fortunate Molefe
Hair and Skin Research Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Division Dermatology, Groote Schuur Hospital University of Cape Town Cape Town South Africa
Solima Sabeel
Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine (IDM) University of Cape Town South Africa
Islam Zainalabdin Abdalgadir Farh
Faculty of Dentistry University of Khartoum Sudan
Hanaa Abdalla Mohamed
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medical Laboratory Science Sudan University of Science and Technology Khartoum Sudan
Hajr Abdallha Elsharif
General Administration of Quarantine and Animal Health Regional Training Institute Khartoum Sudan
ALazza Abdalla Hassan Mohamed
Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology Omdurmam Islamic University Sudan
Mawadda Abd‐Elraheem Awad‐Elkareem
Department of Biotechnology Ahfad University for Women Omdurman Sudan
Mohamed Salih
Department of Biotechnology Africa City of Technology Khartoum Sudan
Cryptococcus neoformans is the highest‐ranked fungal pathogen in the Fungal Priority Pathogens List (FPPL) released by the World Health Organization (WHO). In this study, through in silico simulations, a multi‐epitope vaccine against Cryptococcus neoformans was developed using the mannoprotein antigen (MP88) as a vaccine candidate. Following the retrieval of the MP88 protein sequences, these were used to predict antigenic B‐cell and T‐cell epitopes via the bepipred tool and the artificial neural network, respectively. Conserved B‐cell epitopes AYSTPA, AYSTPAS, PASSNCK, and DSAYPP were identified as the most promising B‐cell epitopes. While YMAADQFCL, VSYEEWMNY, and FQQRYTGTF were identified as the best candidates for CD8+ T‐cell epitopes; and YARLLSLNA, ISYGTAMAV, and INQTSYARL were identified as the most promising CD4+ T‐cell epitopes. The vaccine construct was modeled along with adjuvant and peptide linkers and the expasy protparam tool was used to predict the physiochemical properties. According to this, the construct vaccine was predicted to be antigenic, nontoxic, nonallergenic, soluble, stable, hydrophilic, and thermostable. Furthermore, the three‐dimensional structure was also used in docking analyses with Toll‐like receptor (TLR4). Finally, the cDNA of vaccine was successfully cloned into the E. coli pET‐28a (+) expression vector. The results presented here could contribute towards the design of an effective vaccine against Cryptococcus neoformans.
