Towards peptide vaccines against Zika virus: Immunoinformatics combined with molecular dynamics simulations to predict antigenic epitopes of Zika viral proteins

Sci Rep. 2016 Dec 9:6:37313. doi: 10.1038/srep37313.

Abstract

The recent outbreak of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in Brazil has developed to a global health concern due to its likely association with birth defects (primary microcephaly) and neurological complications. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop a vaccine to prevent or a medicine to treat the infection. In this study, immunoinformatics approach was employed to predict antigenic epitopes of Zika viral proteins to aid in development of a peptide vaccine against ZIKV. Both linear and conformational B-cell epitopes as well as cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes were predicted for ZIKV Envelope (E), NS3 and NS5 proteins. We further investigated the binding interactions of altogether 15 antigenic CTL epitopes with three class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC I) proteins after docking the peptides to the binding groove of the MHC I proteins. The stability of the resulting peptide-MHC I complexes was further studied by molecular dynamics simulations. The simulation results highlight the limits of rigid-body docking methods. Some of the antigenic epitopes predicted and analyzed in this work might present a preliminary set of peptides for future vaccine development against ZIKV.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • B-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • Computational Biology / methods*
  • Drug Design
  • Epitopes / chemistry
  • Epitopes / immunology*
  • Humans
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation*
  • Protein Conformation
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / immunology
  • Vaccines, Subunit / administration & dosage
  • Vaccines, Subunit / immunology*
  • Viral Proteins / chemistry
  • Viral Proteins / immunology*
  • Viral Proteins / metabolism
  • Zika Virus / immunology*
  • Zika Virus / metabolism
  • Zika Virus / physiology
  • Zika Virus Infection / immunology*
  • Zika Virus Infection / prevention & control
  • Zika Virus Infection / virology

Substances

  • Epitopes
  • Vaccines, Subunit
  • Viral Proteins