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

Sasan Khazaei; Abdolhossein Dalimi; Majid Pirestani; Fatemeh Ghafarifar

doi:10.18502/ijpa.v19i1.15205

Sasan Khazaei Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Abdolhossein Dalimi Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Majid Pirestani Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Fatemeh Ghafarifar Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijpa.v19i1.15205

Keywords: Echinococcus granulosus; Glutathione S-transferase; Bioinformatics; Vaccine

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.