creators_name: Ahmed, Niyaz
creators_name: Pahil, Sapna
creators_name: Taneja, Neelam
creators_name: Ansari, Hifzur Rahman
creators_name: Raghava, G.P.S.
type: article
datestamp: 2018-03-27 10:22:23
lastmod: 2018-03-27 10:22:23
metadata_visibility: show
title: In silico analysis to identify vaccine candidates common to multiple serotypes of Shigella and evaluation of their immunogenicity
ispublished: pub
subjects: QR
note: Open Access
abstract: Shigellosis or bacillary dysentery is an important cause of diarrhea, with the majority of the cases occurring in developing countries. Considering the high disease burden, increasing antibiotic resistance, serotype-specific immunity and the post-infectious sequelae associated with shigellosis, there is a pressing need of an effective vaccine against multiple serotypes of the pathogen. In the present study, we used bio-informatics approach to identify antigens shared among multiple serotypes of Shigella spp. This approach led to the identification of many immunogenic peptides. The five most promising peptides based on MHC binding efficiency were a putative lipoprotein (EL PGI I), a putative heat shock protein (EL PGI II), Spa32 (EL PGI III), IcsB (EL PGI IV) and a hypothetical protein (EL PGI V). These peptides were synthesized and the immunogenicity was evaluated in BALB/c mice by ELISA and cytokine assays. The putative heat shock protein (HSP) and the hypothetical protein elicited good humoral response, whereas putative lipoprotein, Spa32 and IcsB elicited good T-cell response as revealed by increased IFN-γ and TNF-α cytokine levels. The patient sera from confirmed cases of shigellosis were also evaluated for the presence of peptide specific antibodies with significant IgG and IgA antibodies against the HSP and the hypothetical protein, bestowing them as potential future vaccine candidates. The antigens reported in this study are novel and have not been tested as vaccine candidates against Shigella. This study offers time and cost-effective way of identifying unprecedented immunogenic antigens to be used as potential vaccine candidates. Moreover, this approach should easily be extendable to find new potential vaccine candidates for other pathogenic bacteria.
date: 2017
date_type: published
publication: PLOS ONE
volume: 12
number: 8
publisher: Public Library of Science
pagerange: e0180505
id_number: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0180505
refereed: TRUE
issn: 1932-6203
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0180505
citation:   Ahmed, Niyaz and Pahil, Sapna and Taneja, Neelam and Ansari, Hifzur Rahman and Raghava, G.P.S.  (2017) In silico analysis to identify vaccine candidates common to multiple serotypes of Shigella and evaluation of their immunogenicity.  PLOS ONE, 12 (8).  e0180505.  ISSN 1932-6203