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.
The human KRAS (Kirsten rat sarcoma) is an oncogene, involved in the regulation of cell growth and division. The mutations in the KRAS gene have the potential to cause normal cells to become cancerous in human lungs. In the present study, we focus on non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs), which are point mutations in the DNA sequence leading to the amino acid variants in the encoded protein. To begin with, we developed a pipeline to utilize a set of computational tools in order to obtain the most deleterious nsSNPs (Q22K, Q61P, and Q61R) associated with lung cancer in the human KRAS gene. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulation and structural analyses of the 3D structures of native and mutant proteins confirmed the impact of these nsSNPs on the stability of the protein. Finally, the experimental results demonstrated that the structural stability of the mutant proteins was worse than that of the native protein. This study provides significant guidance for narrowing down the number of KRAS mutations to be screened as potential diagnostic biomarkers and to better understand the structural and functional mechanisms of the KRAS protein.
The human herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV‐1) is an extremely rampant human pathogen, and its infection could cause life‐long diseases, including the central nervous system disorders. The glycoproteins of HSV‐1 such as glycoprotein B, glycoprotein C, glycoprotein D, glycoprotein H, and glycoprotein L are highly involved in mediating the viral attachment and infection of the host cell. Therefore, immunoinformatic approaches followed by molecular dynamics simulation and systems biology has been used to analyze these glycoproteins in order to propose effective peptide‐based vaccine candidates against the HSV‐1 infection. The ElliPro and NetCTL.1.2 online tools were employed to forecast the B‐ and T‐lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes for gB, gC, gD, gH, and gL. The 3D coordinates of these epitopes were modeled and docked against the human major histocompatibility complex molecule‐1. The outcomes obtained from postdocking analysis along with TAP (Transporter associated with antigen processing), MHC binding, and C‐terminal cleavage score assisted in the selection of potential epitopes. These epitopes were further subjected to molecular dynamics simulation and systems biology approach which showed significant results. On the basis of these substantial outcomes, peptides are proposed that could be used to provoke immunity against the HSV‐1 infection.
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