Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) responsible for causing Kaposi sarcoma (KS), an opportunistic angioproliferative neoplasm is emerging rapidly. Despite this there is no permanent cure for this disease. The present study was aimed to design a multi-epitope based vaccine targeting the major glycoproteins of KSHV which plays an important role in the virus entry. After the application of rigorous immunoinformatics analysis and several immune filters, the multi-epitope vaccine was constructed, consisting of CD4, CD8 and IFN-γ inducing epitopes. Several physiochemical characteristics, allergenicity and antigenicity of the multi-epitope vaccine were analyzed in order to ensure its safety and immunogenicity. Further, the binding affinity and stability of the vaccine with Toll like receptor -9 (TLR-9) was analyzed by molecular docking and dynamics simulation studies. In addition, an in silico cloning was performed to ensure the expression and translation efficiency of the vaccine, utilizing pET-28a (+) vector. Such T-cell-based immunotherapies which leverage this mechanism could prove their potential against cancer. Further, the authors propose to test the present findings in the lab settings to ensure the safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of the presented vaccine which may help in controlling KSHV infection.

Since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in December 2019 in China, there has been an upsurge in the number of deaths and infected individuals throughout the world, thereby leading to the World Health Organization declaration of a pandemic. Since no specific therapy is currently available for the same, the present study was aimed to explore the SARS-CoV-2 genome for the identification of immunogenic regions using immunoinformatics approach. A series of computational tools were applied in a systematic way to identify the epitopes that could be utilized in vaccine development. The screened-out epitopes were passed through several immune filters, such as promiscuousity, conservancy, antigenicity, nonallergenicity, population coverage, nonhomologous to human proteins, and affinity with human leukocyte antigen alleles, to screen out the best possible ones. Further, a construct comprising 11 CD4, 12 CD8, 3 B cell, and 3 interferon-γ epitopes, along with an adjuvant β-defensin, was designed in silico, resulting in the formation of a multiepitope vaccine. The in silico immune simulation and population coverage analysis of the vaccine sequence showed its capacity to elicit cellular, humoral, and innate immune cells and to cover up a worldwide population of more than 97%. Further, the interaction analysis of the vaccine construct with Toll-like receptor 3 (immune receptor) was carried out by docking and dynamics simulations, revealing high affinity, constancy, and pliability between the two. The overall findings suggest that the vaccine may be highly effective, and is therefore required to be tested in the lab settings to evaluate its efficacy.

Human adenovirus (HAdV) is a major cause of viral conjunctivitis. The various serotypes implicated in the causation are 3, 4, 8, 19 and 37. The present study aimed to know the circulating types of HAdV causing acute conjunctivitis in North India. A total of 23 conjunctival swabs were collected from patients with clinically suspected acute viral conjunctivitis during 2014-2015. The HAdV was implicated in the etiology in 65.2% of cases. The sequencing of representative samples using hexon gene suggests the presence of serotype 8 and 4. The serotype eight sequences showed 99%-100% similarity with other Indian strains. The phylogenetic analysis showed that the current circulating serotypes, responsible for conjunctivitis, belonged to epidemic keratoconjunctivitis strains.

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The oral supplementation of 25D3 was found to significantly increase 25D3 levels in aqueous humor; however, the time required to achieve 25D3 concentration in aqueous humor was higher as compared to that in serum. Therefore, weekly oral supplementation of 25D3 may have a beneficial role in ocular diseases.