In silico analysis of a multi-epitope vaccine candidate against monkey pox using reverse vaccinology

Abstract

Introduction. Monkey pox is a zoonotic infection with an increased global transmission rate during 2022, denoted epidemiological trouble in public health. Currently, the disease has no specific treatments available; thus, a preventive approach can be achieved through immunization. Objective. was to design in silico a vaccine applying advanced computational techniques using a multi-epitope construct of the Monkeypox virus. Materials and methods. Antigens were selected based on reports about proteins that cause the activation of cytotoxic T and B lymphocytes. The immunoinformatics assays were antigenicity, allergenicity, toxicity, MHC binding affinity, and IFN-γ stimulation. Results and discussion. Eight epitopes of the M1R, DNA polymerase, B6R, and A35R proteins of the M. virus showed a significant response for immune cells. Eleven epitopes with antigenicity >0.3, non-allergenic and non-toxic were chosen, of which 4 presented high affinity to T lymphocytes, 4 generated high activation of B lymphocytes, and 3 were associated with IFN-γ activation results. The in silico construction of the 509-amino acid vaccine candidate with high topological similarity registered mainly a negative charge, in addition to being soluble with an aliphatic index >80%, stable and particular with MHC activation and high molecular affinity with TLR-3, and also presented multi-antigenicity, similar to vaccines generated by this methodology with M. tuberculosis and Influenza. One-dose injection simulation of the molecular construct showed activation of T helper plasma cells for about 15 to 25 days and high expression of IFN-γ and IL-2 for eight days. Conclusion. These results indicate an excellent immunization process that could be potentiated with multi-dosing.