Epitope-Based Peptide Vaccine Design Against Nuclear Protein EBNA3C of Epstein-Barr Virus: An Approach to Treat Multiple Sclerosis

Madhumathi S.; Aishwarya S.; Nandha Devi E.; Sagaya Jansi R.

doi:10.37591/rrjols.v9i1.1267

Abstract

Almost 95% of the world’s population is affected by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV); it is an oncogenic virus of herpes virus family. The nuclear protein Epstein-Barr nuclear antigens (EBNA)-3C of EBV are related to multiple sclerosis (MS) which is an inflammatory disease of the nervous system. Regardless of multiple occurrences of infections due to EBV and shortage of licensed antiviral drugs, there is not much advancement on vaccine designed for MS. It is computational approach to identify a multi-epitope vaccine candidate against EBV that could activate significant immune response and let us to determine the novel antigen targets. The sequences of EBV were analysed in silico to identify the most immunogenic protein. The peptide sequence “VHMFMRERQLPQSTG” happened to be the most potential B cell and T cell epitope that had the capability to induce both humoral and cell-mediated immunity. It could interact with 27 human leuckocyte antigens (HLAs) and showed high cumulative coverage ranging from 31.97% to 80.42% as well. An in silico docking detected the binding of epitopes with the HLAs and was found to bind well. The epitope was not an allergen based on the allergenicity calculation. This is a preliminary check and requires confirmation by in vitro and in vivo experiments.Keywords: vaccinomics, multiple sclerosis (MS), human leuckocyte antigen (HLA), Epstein-Barr nuclear antigens (EBNA)-3C, allergenicityCite this ArticleMadhumathi S., Aishwarya S., Nandha Devi E., Sagaya Jansi R. Epitope-Based Peptide Vaccine Design Against Nuclear Protein EBNA3C of Epstein-Barr Virus: An Approach to Treat Multiple Sclerosis. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Life Sciences. 2019; 9(1): 62–72p.