Development of a multiple epitope-based DNA vaccine against avian influenza and infectious bronchitis viruses

Abstract

Viral infections pose a devastating impact on poultry industry. High diversity and rapid evolution harden the control strategies. Moreover, the entanglement between the extrinsic and intrinsic limitations generates the massive challenge that hampers current vaccines. These hurdles demand a new generation of vaccines that would consider the constraints imposed by the extrinsic and intrinsic limitation factors. Multi-epitope vaccines are offering innovative and flexible platform that can accommodate multiple viral antigenic determinants. In this study, the biologically significant data were utilized as the main source for epitopes and/or immune-stimulatory sequences. Five prerequisites were set for the epitope selection, in order to maximize the immunogenic potential of the epitopes. We have selected several epitopes of avian influenza virus and infectious bronchitis virus along with TLR-4 agonist epitope. Bioinformatics tools were utilized to explore construct validity. In-vitro and in-vivo studies were carried out to investigate the expressed protein quality and immunological potential. Promising results were obtained concerning protection infectious bronchitis virus. Meanwhile vaccine couldn’t protect against avian influenza virus. Further modifications should be recruited to enhance the humoral immune response elicited by the designed vaccine. Overall, the designed vaccine achieved a considerable step toward the innovation of a wide cross-protective T-cell epitope vaccine and holds the potential for better control of the contemporary field obstacles.