Outer membrane Proteins-focused Pseudomonas aeruginosa Vaccine Designed using Reverse Vaccinology

 Antibiotic resistance is recognized as a major threat to global health that can result in increased morbidity and mortality. On February 27, 2017, the first list of antibiotic-resistant priority pathogens was published by the World Health Organization (WHO). These pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, pose the greatest threat to human health. This research was conducted in order to introduce viable candidate vaccine proteins against P. aeruginosa outer membrane proteins (OMPs) using reverse vaccinology approaches.

 Fifty-eight clinical isolates and 9982 outer membrane protein sequences were retrieved for vaxign2 calculation of sequence-derived features. First, 30 proteins with the highest adhesion probability were selected, and in the next step, 10 candidates common among the 58 strains with the highest scores were introduced as candidates for further studies. After determining the physicochemical characteristics of these vaccine candidates, the presence of protected domains was predicted in 2 out of 10 proteins.

 Based on the results obtained from the bioinformatics analysis of the antigenic properties of these proteins, we identified 10 outer membrane proteins that have the highest antigenic scores, are common among all 58 clinical isolates, have no human protein homologs, and have less than 1 transmembrane helix. These candidate proteins have optimal physicochemical properties. The presence of conserved domains was predicted only in the outer membrane porin F and enterobactin iron receptor.

 We suggested 10 candidate proteins that showed suitable characteristics including outer membrane protein F (OprF) and ferric enterobactin receptor.