Designing an mRNA-based universal vaccine for influenza A virus using an in silico approach
Abstract
Introduction: The influenza virus undergoes constant mutation, necessitating annual updates to the seasonal flu vaccine. Traditional vaccine methods struggle to keep pace with the rapid mutation rate of this virus. This study aimed to develop a universal mRNA vaccine using immunoinformatic approaches to effectively target various strains of influenza A viruses (IAVs). Specifically, this study identified epitopes capable of eliciting T-cell-mediated immune responses for inclusion in vaccine design.
Methods: Immunoinformatic tools from the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) were used to direct neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) against hemagglutinin (HA) molecules. T lymphocyte epitopes were predicted using multiple sequence alignment from Clustal Omega. These epitopes were filtered through a pipeline to assess their affinity for major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class 1 molecules and their conservation across various IAV strains.
Results: After data cleaning, 82,200 of the 91,093 HA amino acid sequences of 15 human-infected IAV strains were eligible for subsequent epitope prediction and conservation assessment. The lengths of the HA amino acid sequences across the 15 strains predominantly fell within the range of 560–567 amino acids. MHC class 1 interaction analysis revealed 16 antigenic sequences generally located in the stalk domain of HA. Among those, 11 were found to have a consensus. Five consensus sequences with strong binding scores were converted into universal mRNA…
Read the paper
Related studies
- eggNOG 5.0: a hierarchical, functionally and phylogenetically annotated orthology resource based on 5090 organisms and 2502 viruses
- Online Survival Analysis Software to Assess the Prognostic Value of Biomarkers Using Transcriptomic Data in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer
- OptiType: precision HLA typing from next-generation sequencing data
- Nicotinic Cholinergic System and COVID-19: In Silico Identification of an Interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and Nicotinic Receptors with Potential Therapeutic Targeting Implications
- Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells have three Omega class glutathione S-transferases acting as 1-Cys thiol transferases
- Hemolysis at low blood flow rates: in-vitro and in-silico evaluation of a centrifugal blood pump
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.