Designing a vaccine for fascioliasis using immunogenic 24 kDa mu-class glutathione s-transferase

Abstract

Fascioliasis, caused by the liver fluke Fasciola gigantica, is a significant zoonotic disease of the livestock and human, causing substantial economic loss worldwide. Triclabendazole (TCBZ) is the only drug available for the management of the disease against which there is an alarming increase in drug resistance. No vaccine is available commercially for the protection against this disease. Increasing resistance to TCBZ and the lack of a successful vaccine against fascioliasis demands the development of vaccines. In the present study, a structural immunoinformatics approach was used to design a multi-epitope subunit vaccine using the glutathione S-transferase (GST) protein of Fasciola gigantica. The GST antigen is a safe, non-allergic, highly antigenic, and effective vaccine candidate against various parasitic flukes and worms. The cytotoxic T lymphocytes, helper T lymphocytes, and B-cell epitopes were selected for constructing the vaccine based on their immunogenic behavior and binding affinity. The physicochemical properties, allergenicity, and antigenicity of the designed vaccine were analyzed. To elucidate the tertiary structure of the vaccine, homology modeling was performed, followed by structure refinement and docking against the TLR2 immune receptor. Molecular dynamics simulations showed a stable interaction between the vaccine and the receptor complex. Finally, in silico cloning was performed to evaluate the expression and translation of the vaccine construct in the E. coli expression system. Further studies require experimental validation for the safety and immunogenic behavior of the designed vaccine.