Original Article

Biochemical Properties and Immunogenic Epitopes of Echinococcus granulosus Glutathione S-Transferase as a Vaccine Target: In-Silico Study

Abstract

Background: The current in silico study was done to determine the primary biochemical features and immunogenic epitopes of Echinococcus granulosus glutathione S-transferase protein as a potential vaccine candidate.
Methods: Several web tools were employed to predict physico-chemical properties, antigenicity, allergenicity, solubility, post-translational modification (PTM) sites, subcellular localization, signal peptide, transmembrane domain, secondary and tertiary structure followed by refinement and validations. In addition, B-cell epitopes were predicted and were screened using various web servers, while MHC-binding and CTL epitopes were predicted using IEDB and NetCTL servers, respectively.
Results: The protein had 219 residues with a molecular weight of 25.55 kDa and alkaline isoelectric pH (7.5). This protein was stable, thermotolerant (aliphatic index: 78.04) and hydrophilic (GRAVY: -0.440). The predicted antigenicity scores were low and the protein was non-allergenic in nature. There were no transmembrane domain and signal peptide in the sequence. Moreover, several B-cell, MHC-binding and CTL epitopes were found in the EgGST protein, which could be further used in multi-epitope vaccines.
Conclusion: Further studies are needed on the development of vaccines in vivo using EgGST alone or in combination with other antigens in the future.

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IssueVol 19 No 1 (2024) QRcode
SectionOriginal Article(s)
DOI https://doi.org/10.18502/ijpa.v19i1.15205
Keywords
Echinococcus granulosus Glutathione S-transferase Bioinformatics Vaccine

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1.
Khazaei S, Dalimi A, Pirestani M, Ghaffarifar F. Biochemical Properties and Immunogenic Epitopes of Echinococcus granulosus Glutathione S-Transferase as a Vaccine Target: In-Silico Study. Iran J Parasitol. 2024;19(1):61-74.