In Silico Analysis of the Antigenic Properties of Iron-Regulated Proteins against Neisseria meningitidis

Md Shahedur Rahman,S M Nur Alam,Ki-Hyun Kim,Polash Kumar Biswas,Christian Sonne,Chayon Biswas,Md Ashraful Kader

doi:10.3390/app10176113

Abstract

Neisseria meningitidis is a commensal pathogen that causes infectious cerebrospinal disease in people of all ages. The multivariate role of six disease-causing polysaccharide serotypes is found to play a crucial role in developing vaccines (or general treatment strategies) to treat this emerging pathogen. Iron is a crucial transition metal for N. meningitidis. Proteomic analysis data could be valuable for vaccine design. Here, we conduct a comparative study using computational bioinformatic tools to identify the most effective iron-regulated outer membrane proteins (OMPs) as immunogenic targets for a potential vaccine against N. meningitidis. The basic properties of N. meningitidis OMPs are explored for flexibility, solubility, hydrophilicity, beta-turns, and overall antigenic probability. Results of our study suggest that iron-regulated OMPs are flexible and soluble in water with high densities of conformational B-cell epitopes. As such, they can be recommended as a novel candidate for a vaccine against N. meningitidis both in vitro and in vivo.

Highlights

Neisseria meningitidis is a diplococcal Gram-negative bacterial species that serves as the predominant causative infectious agent for a range of diseases classified as an invasive meningococcal disease [1].Meningitis is defined as the infection of the meninges membranes encompassing the brain and spinal cord
Outer membrane proteins may have analysis for vaccine and drug often sets iron‐regulated as the target a strong immunogenic property withdesign easy accessibility to antibodies [33,34]
Our in silico modeling showed that iron-regulated proteins from N. meningitidis had the potential to cause an immune response in humans

Summary

Introduction

Neisseria meningitidis is a diplococcal Gram-negative bacterial species that serves as the predominant causative infectious agent for a range of diseases classified as an invasive meningococcal disease [1].Meningitis is defined as the infection of the meninges membranes encompassing the brain and spinal cord. Neisseria meningitidis is a diplococcal Gram-negative bacterial species that serves as the predominant causative infectious agent for a range of diseases classified as an invasive meningococcal disease [1]. N. meningitidis is an obligate human pathogen [2] and its infections may remain asymptomatic [3]. N. meningitidis is host-specific and adapted to sidestep the human immune system during pathogenesis as well as having commensal residence in the nasopharynx [2]. The human immune system is complex and can eliminate the meningococcus infection through an array of different strategies, including antimicrobial peptides and proteins, which play an important role in the innate immune system [4]. To combat the host antibacterial defense system, N. meningitidis modifies lipid

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