Bioinformatics analysis of multi-epitope peptide vaccines against Hepatitis C virus: a molecular docking study.

Background: Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection is one of the causal agents of liver disease burden. Six multiple antigenic peptides were synthesized including (P315, P412, and P517) plus (P1771, P2121, and P2941) to induce humoral and cellular responses, respectively against HCV infection.

Aim: This paper aimed to employ computational tools to evaluate the efficacy of each peptide individually and to determine the most effective one for better vaccine development and/or immunotherapy.

Methods: VaxiJen web and AllerTOP servers were used for antigenicity and allergenicity prediction, respectively. The ToxinPred web server was used to investigate the peptide toxicity. Each peptide was docked with its corresponding receptors.

Results: No peptides were expected to be toxic. P315 and P2941 are predicted to have robust antigenic properties, lowest allergenicity, and minimal sOPEP energies. In turn, P315 (derived from gpE1) formed the highest hydrophobic bonds with the BCR and CD81 receptors that will elicit B cell function. P2941 (derived from NS5B) was shown to strongly bind to both CD4 and CD8 receptors that will elicit T cell function.

Conclusion: P315 successfully bound to B cell (BCR and CD81) receptors. Also, P2941 is strongly bound to T cell (CD4 and CD8) receptors.