In silico analysis of the antigenic properties of iron-regulated proteins against neisseria meningitides

• Main Authors: Rahman, Md. Shahedur, Biswas, Chayon, Biswas, Polash Kumar, Kader, Md. Ashraful, Nur Alam, S. M., Sonne, Christian, Kim, Ki-Hyun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2020
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/29984/1/In%20silico%20analysis%20of%20the%20antigenic%20properties%20of%20iron.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/29984/; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10176113; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10176113
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Pahang

Neisseria meningitidis is a commensal pathogen that causes infectious cerebrospinal disease in people of all ages. The multivariate role of six disease-causing polysaccharide serotypes is found to play a crucial role in developing vaccines (or general treatment strategies) to treat this emerging pathogen. Iron is a crucial transition metal for N. meningitidis. Proteomic analysis data could be valuable for vaccine design. Here, we conduct a comparative study using computational bioinformatic tools to identify the most effective iron-regulated outer membrane proteins (OMPs) as immunogenic targets for a potential vaccine against N. meningitidis. The basic properties of N. meningitidis OMPs are explored for flexibility, solubility, hydrophilicity, beta-turns, and overall antigenic probability. Results of our study suggest that iron-regulated OMPs are flexible and soluble in water with high densities of conformational B-cell epitopes. As such, they can be recommended as a novel candidate for a vaccine against N. meningitidis both in vitro and in vivo.