Immunodominant Protein of Kyasanur Forest Disease Virus: A retrospective study

Abstract

Kyasanur forest disease is a febrile illness with hemorrhages caused by the Kyasanur Forest disease virus (KFDV) of the Flaviviridae family. KFD was first documented as an illness among forest dwellers in Kyasanur Forest (Shimoga) in Karnataka in the year 1957. Currently, KFD infections are not treated with effective, licensed therapies and existing treatment approaches are mostly limited to treating symptoms and providing supportive care. In the biology of KFDV, the major envelope glycoprotein E, a surface protein in Flavivirus plays an essential role. E protein contains structural elements that contribute to penetration, viral attachment and fusion, host range, cell tropism, hemagglutination, as well as virus virulency and diminution in the course of natural infection or immunization. The in silico studies were carried out on the proteins of KFD to determine the immunodominant characteristics and showed that E (envelope) protein can be considered as the most immunodominant among the polyproteins. In summary, E protein was revealed to be non-allergenic, more antigenic and immunogenic when compared to other proteins and plays a crucial role in pathogenesis and immune evasion, which mediates virus entry into the host cell, controls immunogenicity and plays a key role in phenotypic and immunogenic characteristics. A detailed study on E protein would open new horizons that can lead to better therapeutic agents and promising vaccine candidates and to save mankind.