Development of Subunit Vaccine against African Swine Fever Virus Based on CD2v Protein Using Immunoinformatics and Molecular Dynamics Methods

Abstract

A subunit vaccine against African swine fever virus (ASFV) was computationally designed using immunoinformatics and molecular dynamics methods. The three–dimensional structure of the selected immunogenic CD2v protein of ASFV was modeled and its topology relative to the membrane was predicted. The B- and T-cell epitopes for the outer-membrane part of CD2v were predicted and their immunogenicity, allergenicity, and toxicity were evaluated. For the development of a subunit vaccine, the least variable site was identified based on the analysis of the conservancy of the predicted epitopes. For the selected outer-membrane region, its stability in an aqueous salt solution was evaluated by molecular dynamics methods, which demonstrated its structural stability. The immunomodulation study showed that the developed vaccine candidate can cause a persistent immune response and does not induce a cytokine storm.