Immunoinformatics-aided design of a new multi-epitope vaccine adjuvanted with domain 4 of pneumolysin against Streptococcus pneumoniae strains
Streptococcus pneumoniae (Pneumococcus) has remained a leading
cause of fatal infections such as pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis.
Moreover, this pathogen plays a major role in bacterial co-infection in
patients with life-threatening respiratory virus diseases such as
influenza and COVID-19. High morbidity and mortality in over one million
cases, especially in very young children and the elderly, are the main
motivations for pneumococcal vaccine development. Due to the limitations
of the currently marketed polysaccharide-based vaccines,
non-serotype-specific protein-based vaccines have
received wide research interest in recent years. One step further is to
identify high antigenic regions within multiple highly-conserved
proteins in order to develop peptide vaccines that can affect various
stages of pneumococcal infection, providing broader serotype coverage
and more effective protection. In this study, immunoinformatics tools
were used to design an effective multi-epitope vaccine in order to
elicit neutralizing antibodies against multiple strains of pneumococcus.