A web-based resource for designing therapeutics against Ebola Virus.
In this study, we describe a web-based resource, developed for assisting the scientific community in designing an effective therapeutics against the Ebola virus. Firstly, we predicted and identified experimentally validated epitopes in each of the antigens/proteins of the five known ebolaviruses. Secondly, we generated all the possible overlapping 9mer peptides from the proteins of ebolaviruses. Thirdly, conserved peptides across all the five ebolaviruses (four human pathogenic species) with no identical sequence in the human proteome, based on 1000 Genomes project, were identified. Finally, we identified peptide or epitope-based vaccine candidates that could activate both the B- and T-cell arms of the immune system. In addition, we also identified efficacious siRNAs against the mRNA transcriptome (absent in human transcriptome) of all the five ebolaviruses. It was observed that three species can potentially be targeted by a single siRNA (19mer) and 75 siRNAs can potentially target at least two species. A web server, EbolaVCR, has been developed that incorporates all the above information and useful computational tools (http://crdd.osdd.net/oscadd/ebola/).
Bioinformatics Centre, CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39A, Chandigarh, India.
Sandeep Kumar
SK
Dhanda
Bioinformatics Centre, CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39A, Chandigarh, India.
Kumardeep
K
Chaudhary
Bioinformatics Centre, CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39A, Chandigarh, India.
Sudheer
S
Gupta
CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Mathura Road, New Delhi, India.
Samir Kumar
SK
Brahmachari
Bioinformatics Centre, CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39A, Chandigarh, India.
Gajendra P S
GP
Raghava
D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D016679:Genome, Viral; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use; D059467:Transcriptome; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000276:immunology
D000939:Epitopes; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D010455:Peptides; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit