Computational identification, characterization and validation of potential antigenic peptide vaccines from hrHPVs E6 proteins using immunoinformatics and computational systems biology approaches

PLoS One. 2018 May 1;13(5):e0196484. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196484. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

High-risk human papillomaviruses (hrHPVs) are the most prevalent viruses in human diseases including cervical cancers. Expression of E6 protein has already been reported in cervical cancer cases, excluding normal tissues. Continuous expression of E6 protein is making it ideal to develop therapeutic vaccines against hrHPVs infection and cervical cancer. Therefore, we carried out a meta-analysis of multiple hrHPVs to predict the most potential prophylactic peptide vaccines. In this study, immunoinformatics approach was employed to predict antigenic epitopes of hrHPVs E6 proteins restricted to 12 Human HLAs to aid the development of peptide vaccines against hrHPVs. Conformational B-cell and CTL epitopes were predicted for hrHPVs E6 proteins using ElliPro and NetCTL. The potential of the predicted peptides were tested and validated by using systems biology approach considering experimental concentration. We also investigated the binding interactions of the antigenic CTL epitopes by using docking. The stability of the resulting peptide-MHC I complexes was further studied by molecular dynamics simulations. The simulation results highlighted the regions from 46-62 and 65-76 that could be the first choice for the development of prophylactic peptide vaccines against hrHPVs. To overcome the worldwide distribution, the predicted epitopes restricted to different HLAs could cover most of the vaccination and would help to explore the possibility of these epitopes for adaptive immunotherapy against HPVs infections.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / chemistry
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / metabolism
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Oncogene Proteins, Viral / chemistry*
  • Protein Conformation
  • Systems Biology*
  • Vaccines, Subunit / chemistry
  • Vaccines, Subunit / immunology*
  • Vaccines, Subunit / metabolism

Substances

  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class I
  • Oncogene Proteins, Viral
  • Vaccines, Subunit

Grants and funding

Dong-Qing Wei is supported by the Key Research Area Grant 2016YFA0501703 from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and also grants from the State Key Lab on Microbial Metabolism, and Joint Research Funds for Medical and Engineering & Scientific Research at Shanghai Jiaotong University.