1.Construction of multi-epitope vaccine against the Rhipicephalus microplus tick: an immunoinformatics approach
Younas, M. ; Ashraf, K. ; Ijaz, M. ; Suleman, M. ; Chohan, T.A. ; Rahman, S.U. ; Rashid, M.I.
Tropical Biomedicine 2024;41(No.1):84-96
Rhipicephalus microplus, known as the hard tick, is a vector for the parasites Babesia spp. and
Anaplasma marginale, both of which can cause significant financial losses to the livestock industry.
There is currently no effective vaccine for R. microplus tick infestations, despite the identification of
numerous prospective tick vaccine candidates. As a result, the current research set out to develop
an immunoinformatics-based strategy using existing methods for designing a multi-epitope based
vaccination that is not only effective but also safe and capable of eliciting cellular and humoral immune
responses. First, R. microplus proteins Bm86, Subolesin, and Bm95 were used to anticipate and link B
and T-cell epitopes (HTL and CTL) to one another. Antigenicity testing, allergenicity assessment, and
toxicity screening were just a few of the many immunoinformatics techniques used to identify potent
epitopes. Multi-epitope vaccine design was chosen based on the antigenic score 0.935 that is promising
vaccine candidate. Molecular docking was used to determine the nature of the interaction between TLR2
and the vaccine construct. Finally, molecular dynamic simulation was used to assess the stability and
compactness of the resulting vaccination based on docking scores. The developed vaccine was shown
to be stable, have immunogenic qualities, be soluble, and to have high expression by in silico cloning.
These findings suggest that experimental investigation of the multi-epitope based vaccine designed in
the current study will produce achievable vaccine candidates against R. microplus ticks, enabling more
effective control of infestations.
2.Molecular evidence and hematological alterations associated with the occurrence of coronavirus in domestic dogs in Pakistan
Sulehria, M.U. ; Ahmad, S.S. ; Ijaz, M. ; Mushtaq, M.H. ; Khan, A.Y. ; Ghaffar, A.
Tropical Biomedicine 2020;37(No.4):963-972
Canine Enteric Coronavirus (CCoV) is one of the major enteric pathogen affecting
dogs. This study aims to investigate the molecular prevalence, phylogenetic analysis,
associated risk factors, and haemato-biochemical alterations in Canine Coronavirus in dogs
in district Lahore, Pakistan. 450 fecal samples were collected from symptomatic dogs
originating from various pet-clinics and kennels during 2018-2019. Samples were initially
analyzed by sandwich lateral flow immunochromatographic assay and then further processed
by RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) targeting the M gene followed
by sequencing. RT-PCR based positive (n=20) and negative (n=20) dogs were samples for
their blood for the haemato-biochemical analysis. A questionnaire was used to collect data
from pet owners, in order to analyze the data for risk factors analysis by chi square test on
SPSS. The prevalence of CCoV was 35.1%, and 23.8 % through Sandwich lateral flow
immunochromatographic and RT-PCR respectively. Various risk factors like breed, age, sex,
vomiting, diarrhea, sample source, body size, cohabitation with other animals, living
environment, food, deworming history, contact with other animals or birds feces, and season
were significantly associated with CCoV. The CCoV identified in Pakistan were 98% similar
with the isolates from China (KT 192675, 1), South Korea (HM 130573, 1), Brazil (GU 300134,
1), Colombia (MH 717721, 1), United Kingdom (JX 082356, 1) and Tunisia (KX156806). Haematobiochemical alterations in CCoV affected dogs revealed anaemia, leucopenia, lymphopenia,
neutrophilia, and decreased packed cell volume, and a significant increase in alkaline phosphate
and alanine transaminase. It is concluded that infection with canine coronavirus appears
widespread among dog populations in district Lahore, Pakistan. This study is the first report
regarding the molecular detection and sequence analysis of CCoV in Pakistan.