Immunoinformatics-driven approach for development of potential multi-epitope vaccine against the secreted protein FlaC of Campylobacter jejuni

Abstract

Campylobacter jejuni causes a leading human gastrointestinal infection which is associated with foodborne diarrhea, stomach cramping, and fever. In the recent years, numerous multidrug-resistant strains of C. jejuni has evolved and is considered in the priority pathogens category. Therefore, an increasing demand exists to develop an effective vaccine against Campylobacteriosis. The T cell and B cell epitopes from the FlaC protein were predicted using comprehensive immunoinformatics tools. The predicted epitopes were chosen based on their antigenicity, allergenicity, and toxicity profiles. Using the bioinformatics approach various physicochemical properties of the constructed vaccine were determined. The molecular docking analysis of the vaccine with the TLRs demonstrated that TLR5 has a higher binding affinity of −1159.0 kcal/mol. Molecular dynamics simulation has confirmed the stable association of the vaccine with TLR5. The immune response of the constructed vaccine was validated using immunostimulation. Based on this study, we recommend the formulation of a multi-epitope vaccine as a promising agent to effectively combat the dreadful campylobacteriosis infection.

Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Keywords:

• C. jejuni infection
• immunoinformatics
• vaccine development
• molecular docking
• molecular dynamics simulations

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest among them.

Additional information

Funding

The work was funded by an extramural research grant (EEQ/2022/001047) from the Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing Kancheepuram for providing the necessary infrastructure to carry out this work successfully.