Immunoinformatics Design of a Multi-epitope-based Vaccine Against Colorectal Cancer

Bioinformatic approaches for designing vaccines have become a promising alternative to conventional methods. We herein designed a multi-epitope-based vaccine against colorectal cancer (CRC).

Used peptides in the CRC vaccines were retrieved from databases of PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Clinical trials. The adjuvants of Mycobacterial heparin-binding hemagglutinin and pan DR epitope were inserted in the N and C terminus of the vaccine sequence. Physicochemical properties, immunological characterizations, and prediction of the secondary and tertiary structure of the vaccine were evaluated. Linear and conformational B cells were predicted by IEDB. Docking and molecular dynamics simulations were performed between the vaccine and toll-like receptor of 4 (TLR4). In silico cloning and mRNA stability were predicted to evaluate the expression of the vaccine in Escherichia coli (E.Coli).

The vaccine contains 368 amino acids constructed from peptides of OGT, FTO, CASP5, CASP8, U2SURP, MED25, FMO5, CEA, and TGFβIIR CRC antigens. The vaccine has a high-quality structure and suitable physicochemical and immunological properties. It has large and accessible B-celll epitopes. Docking and molecular dynamics simulation of the vaccine with TLR4 showed an appropriate and stable interaction between the vaccine and immune receptors. In silico cloning showed the vaccine can transcript and translate in E.Coli as a host.

The CRC vaccine is immunogen, non-allergen, and structurally stable. In the next step, the in silico results of this study will verify using in vitro and in vivo studies.