Targeting ‘immunogenic hotspots’ in Dengue and Zika virus: an in silico approach to a common vaccine candidate: supplementary figure 1

Aim: Dengue and Zika viruses cause significant mortality globally. Considering high sequence similarity
between the viral proteins, we designed common multi-epitope vaccine candidates against these
pathogens. Methods: We identified multiple T and B cell epitope-rich conserved ‘immunogenic hotspots’
from highly antigenic and phylogenetically related viral proteins and used these to design the multiepitope
vaccine (MEV) candidates, ensuring high global population coverage. Results: Four MEV
candidates containing conserved immunogenic hotspots from E and NS5 proteins with the highest
structural integrity could favorably interact with TLR4-MD2 complex in molecular docking studies,
indicating activation of TLR-mediated immune responses. MEVs also induced memory responses in silico,
hallmarks of a good vaccine candidate. Conclusion: Conserved immunogenic hotspots can be utilized to
design cross-protective MEV candidates.

目标：登革热和寨卡病毒在全球范围内造成显著的死亡率。鉴于病毒蛋白间的高序列相似性，本研究设计了针对这些病原体的通用多表位疫苗候选物。方法：我们从高度抗原性和系统发育上相关的病毒蛋白中鉴定出多个富含T和B细胞表位的保守‘免疫原性热点’，并以此为基础设计多表位疫苗（MEV）候选物，以确保对全球人口的广泛覆盖。结果：在分子对接研究中，四种含有来自E和NS5蛋白保守免疫原性热点且具有最高结构完整性的MEV候选物能够与TLR4-MD2复合物进行有利交互，表明TLR介导的免疫反应被激活。MEVs亦能在计算机模拟中诱导记忆反应，这是优秀疫苗候选物的显著特征。结论：保守的免疫原性热点可用于设计具有交叉保护能力的MEV候选物。