Epitope-Based Vaccine Designing of Nocardia asteroides Targeting the Virulence Factor Mce-Family Protein by Immunoinformatics Approach

Nocardia asteroides is the main causative agent responsible for nocardiosis disease in immunocompromised patient viz. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), malignancy, diabetic, organ recipient and genetic disorders. The virulence factor and outer membrane protein pertains immense contribution towards the designing of epitopic vaccine and limiting the robust outbreak of diseases. While epitopic based vaccine element carrying B and T cell epitope along with adjuvant is highly immunoprophylactic in nature. Present research equips immunoinformatics to figure out the suitable epitopes for effective vaccine designing. The selected epitopes VLGSSVQTA, VNIELKPEF and VVPSNLFAV amino acids sequence are identified by HLA-DRB alleles of both MHC class (MHC-I and II) molecules. Simultaneously, these also accessible to B-cell, confirmed through the ABCPred server. Antigenic property expression is validated by the Vaxijen antigenic prediction web portal. Molecular docking between the epitopes and T cell receptor delta chain authenticate the accurate interaction between epitope and receptor with significantly low binding energy. Easy access of epitopes to immune system also be concluded as transmembrane nature of the protein verified by using of TMHMM server. Appropriate structural identity of the virulence factor Mce-family protein generated through Phyre2 server and subsequently validated by ProSA and PROCHECK program suite. The structural configuration of theses epitopes also shaped using DISTILL web server. Both the structure of epitopes and protein will contribute a significant step in designing of epitopic vaccine against N. asteroides. Therefore, such immunoinformatics based computational drive definitely provides a conspicuous impel towards the development of epitopic vaccine as a promising remedy of nocardiosis