Immunoinformatics guided design of a universal epitope-based vaccine against Kaposi Sarcoma

Abstract The Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is a virus that is identified as a direct carcinogen, causes Kaposi sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma and multicentric Castleman disease. Despite this, there is no permanent treatment. This work intended to develop a multi-epitope vaccine aiming KSHV's key glycoproteins involved in viral entry. After applying rigorous immunoinformatics study and numerous immunological filters, the multi epitope vaccine was created, comprising of potent CTL, HTL and BCL epitope. A series of computational evaluations established the general dependability of the putative vaccine, and a molecular dynamics simulation established the vaccine's overall stability. Docking experiments revealed that the vaccination can make stable interactions with Toll-Like Receptors. Codon optimization and insertion into the cloning vector revealed that the vaccine could be expressed proficiently in the E. coli expression system. Finally, an immune simulation was done to assess the vaccine's potency to trigger an immune response.