Immunoinformatics Based Vaccine Design for Zea M 1 Pollen Allergen

Objective: Zea m1 is one of the most common aeroallergens, causing allergy. This pollen allergen, present in maize, is responsible for type I hypersensitivity reaction. Despite having available X ray crystal structure of this pollen allergen, no definite vaccine has been developed for allergic disorder in humans. Method: In our present study, an epitope-based peptide vaccine against Zea m 1 pollen allergen, using a combination of B cell and T cell epitope predictions, followed by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation methods are carried out. Here, protein sequences of homologous pollen allergens of Zea m1 are collected and conserved regions present in them are investigated. Result: From the identified region of the allergenic protein, the peptide sequence KVPPGPNITTNY and the sequence AEWKPMKLSM are considered as the most potential B cell and T cell epitopes respectively. Furthermore, this predicted T cell epitope AEWKPMKLSM interacted with MHC allelic protein HLAB* 44:02 with the lowest IC50 value (7.94 nM). This epitope perfectly fitted into the epitope binding groove of alpha helix of MHC I molecule with lowest energy weighted score -620.0, showing stability in MHC binding. This epitope also showed a good conservancy of 69.75% in world population coverage. Conclusion: The epitopes KVPPGPNITTNY and AEWKPMKLSM may be considered as potential peptide for peptide vaccine for pollen allergen after further experimental study.

Key message: Immunoinformatic study shows that the predicted epitopes KVPPGPNITTNY and AEWKPMKLSM provide in long term and highly specific protective immunity against Zea m 1 pollen allergen during allergic reaction for whole world population.