Abstract
C. perfringens is a highly versatile bacteria of livestock and humans, causing enteritis (a common food-borne illness in humans), enterotoxaemia (in which toxins are formed in the intestine which damage and destroy organs, i.e., the brain), and gangrene (wound infection). There is no particular cure for the toxins of C. perfringens. Supportive care (medical control of pain, intravenous fluids) is the standard treatment. Therefore, a multiple-epitope vaccine (MEV) should be designed to battle against C. perfringens infection. Furthermore, the main objective of this in silico investigation is to design an MEV that targets C. perfringens. For this purpose, we selected the top three proteins that were highly antigenic using immuno-informatics approaches, including molecular docking. B-cells, IFN-gamma, and T cells for target proteins were predicted and the most conserved epitopes were selected for further investigation. For the development of the final MEV, epitopes of LBL5, CTL17, and HTL13 were linked to GPGPG, AAY, and KK linkers. The vaccine N-end was joined to an adjuvant through an EAAK linker to improve immunogenicity. After the attachment of linkers and adjuvants, the final construct was 415 amino acids. B-cell and IFN-gamma epitopes demonstrate that the model structure is enhanced for humoral and cellular immune responses. To validate the immunogenicity and safety of the final construct, various physicochemical properties, and other properties such as antigenicity and non-allergens, were evaluated. Furthermore, molecular docking was carried out for verification of vaccine compatibility with the receptor, evaluated in silico. Also, in silico cloning was employed for the verification of the proper expression and credibility of the construct.
Highlights
Homo sapiens paralogos were discarded after BLASTp analysis and 109 proteins were identified as non- homologous; these were evaluated on the basis of antigenicity values
All these results suggested that C. perfringens multiple-epitope vaccine (MEV) can be considered as a possible
All these results suggested that C. perfringens MEV can be considered as a possible vaccine vaccine candidate
Summary
Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) is an anaerobic, saprophyte bacteria with a ubiquitous distribution of environments including food, faces, and normal animal intestinal microbiota, including Homo sapiens. Type A of C. perfringens causes gas gangrene in humans and animals. This widely dispersed, Gram-positive, rapidly growing, and opportunistic bacterium has become one of the most common bacteria that cause various enteric diseases in humans and animals, including enteric and histotoxic infections, non-food diarrhea, enterocolitis, and food poisoning [1,2]. Preventive approaches including proper storage and cooking of food are more effective in the prevention of this bacterial infection, but common antibiotic therapy is available for epidemics and severe cases, including cephalosporins and penicillin respectively; these conventional treatment methods might not guarantee effective treatment and may leads to an antibioticresistant pathogens.
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