Identification of novel hepatitis B virus therapeutic vaccine candidates derived from polymerase protein.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a worldwide health problem with high morbidity and mortality rates. The therapeutic vaccine is a promising method of treatment, and HBV polymerase plays a vital role in viral replication. Therefore, a therapeutic vaccine that binds to HBV DNA polymerase may control HBV infection. We predicted and selected epitopes of polymerase using online databases and analysis software. We then performed molecular docking and peptide binding assays to evaluate the binding energies and affinities between polymerase epitopes and the HLA-A0201 molecule. Finally, we induced T cells from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of healthy donors using each epitope and quantified the functions of epitope-specific T cells by IFN-γELISPOT assay, T2 cell cytotoxicity assay, HepG2.2.15 cell cytotoxicity assay and HBV gene expression assays. Four epitopes (RVTGGVFLV, GLLGFAAPF, LLDDEAGPL and YMDDVVLGA) had low binding energy and two epitopes (RVTGGVFLV and GLLGFAAPF) had a high binding affinity. The T cells stimulated by two epitopes (GLLGFAAPF and HLYSHPIIL) had a greater ability to induce immune response and suppress HBV. The HBV DNA polymerase epitopes identified in this study are promising targets for designing an epitope-based therapeutic vaccine against HBV.
['Zheng|Juzeng|J|', 'Xia|Ziqiang|Z|', 'Xu|Yilun|Y|', 'Ou|Zhanfan|Z|', 'Lin|Xianfan|X|', 'Jin|Sisi|S|', 'Liu|Yang|Y|', 'Wu|Jinming|J|']
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence D016923:Cell Death D045744:Cell Line, Tumor D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase D000939:Epitopes D005453:Fluorescence D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral D006515:Hepatitis B virus D006801:Humans D007371:Interferon-gamma D062105:Molecular Docking Simulation D010455:Peptides D011485:Protein Binding D014764:Viral Proteins D014765:Viral Vaccines
hepatitis B virus vaccine polymerase epitope bioinformatics