In silico prediction of B- and T-cell epitopes in the CD2v protein of african swine fever virus (African swine fever virus, Asfivirus, Asfarviridae)

Introduction. African swine fever virus (ASF) is a large DNA virus that is the only member of the Asfarviridae family. The spread of the ASF virus in the territory of the Russian Federation, Eastern Europe and China indicates the ineffectiveness of existing methods of combating the disease and reinforces the urgent need to create effective vaccines. One of the most significant antigens required for the formation of immune protection against ASF is a serotype-specific CD2v protein.The purpose of the study. This study presents the results of immuno-informatics on the identification of B- and T-cell epitopes for the CD2v protein of the ASF virus using in silico prediction methods.Material and methods. The primary sequence of the CD2v protein of the ASFV virus strain Georgia 2007/1 (ID-FR682468) was analyzed in silico by programs BCPred, NetCTLpan, VaxiJen, PVS and Epitope Conservancy Analysis.Results. Using the BCPred and VaxiJen programs, 4 major B-cell immunogenic epitopes were identified. Analysis of the secretory region of ASF virus CD2v protein in NetCTLpan revealed 5 T-cell epitopes from the 32nd to the 197th position of amino acids that cross-link from the 1st to the 13th allele of the MHC-I of pigDiscussion. This study presents the results in silico prediction to identify B- and T-cell epitopes of ASF virus CD2v protein. The soluble region of the CD2v protein can be included in the recombinant polyepitope vaccine against African swine fever.Conclusion. B- and T-cell epitopes in the secretory region of the CD2v protein (from 17 to 204 aa) of ASF virus were identified by in silico prediction. An analysis of the conservatism of the identified B- and T-cell epitopes allowed us to develop a map of the distribution of immune epitopes in the CD2v protein sequence.