Title of the publication: Designing a Multi-Epitope Subunit Vaccine against VP1 Major Coat Protein of JC Polyomavirus
Sukhada Kanse, Mehak Khandelwal, Rajan Kumar Pandey, Manoj Khokhar, Neetin Desai and Bajarang Vasant Kumbhar*
Link of the article: https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11071182
Impact Factor: 7.8
Abstract:
The JC polyomavirus virus (JCPyV) affects more than 80% of the human population in their early life stage. It mainly affects immunocompromised individuals where virus replication in oligodendrocytes and astrocytes may lead to fatal progressive multifocal encephalopathy (PML). Virus protein 1 (VP1) is one of the major structural proteins of the viral capsid, responsible for keeping the virus alive in the gastrointestinal and urinary tracts. VP1 is often targeted for antiviral drug and vaccine development. Similarly, this study implied immune-informatics and molecular modeling methods to design a multi-epitope subunit vaccine targeting JCPyV. The VP1 protein epitopic sequences, which are highly conserved, were used to build the vaccine. This designed vaccine includes two adjuvants, five HTL epitopes, five CTL epitopes, and two BCL epitopes to stimulate cellular, humoral, and innate immune responses against the JCPyV. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulation (100 ns) studies were used to examine the interaction and stability of the vaccine protein with TLR4. Trajectory analysis showed that the vaccine and TLR4 receptor form a stable complex. Overall, this study may contribute to the path of vaccine development against JCPyV.
Figure. Shows the JC polyomavirus infection, signs, symptoms, and diagnosis methods, and the computational design of the vaccine protein construct against the JC polyomavirus targeting the VP1 major capsid protein.
