Designing a multi-epitope vaccine to control porcine epidemic diarrhea virus infection using immunoinformatics approaches

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), a continuously evolving pathogen, causes severe in piglets with high mortality rates. However, current vaccines cannot provide complete protection against PEDV, so vaccine development is still necessary and urgent. Here, the help of immunoinformatics approaches, we attempted to design multi-epitope named rPMEV prevent control PEDV infection. The epitopes were constructed by 9 cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTLs), 11 helper (HTLs), 6 linear B cell (LBEs), 4 conformational (CBEs) based on S proteins from four representative G2 strains. To enhance immunogenicity, porcine β-defensin-2 (PBD-2) was adjoined N-terminal as an adjuvant. All PBD-2 joined corresponding linkers recombined into multivalent vaccine, which stable, antigenic, non-allergenic. Furthermore, adopted molecular docking dynamics simulation methods analyze interaction Toll-like receptor (TLR4): stable between them created 13 hydrogen bonds. In addition, results immune showed that could stimulate both cellular humoral responses. Finally, raise expression efficiency, sequence protein cloned pET28a (+) vector after codon optimization. These studies indicate designed has potential protective effect, providing theoretical basis for further confirmation its effect infection vitro vivo studies.