Designing a highly antigenic multi epitope subunit vaccine against Bovine alpha herpes virus 2 targeting glycoprotein B and H: A reverse vaccinology approach

Bovine alphaherpesvirus 2 (BoHV-2), a major pathogen in cattle, belongs to the Herpesviridae family. In this work, we designed a vaccine against BoHV-2 using its envelope glycoprotein B (gB) and glycoprotein H (Alexander et al.). In this work, computational methods were utilized for predicting the B and T lymphocyte epitopes with striking results in its antigenicity and low allergenicity. Thereafter, the vaccine design stability tests showed that it was physiochemically stable. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation analyses validated its further efficacy. The docking results demonstrated 11 hydrogen bonds coupled with one salt bridge between the vaccine and TLR3 while PRODIGY analysis suggested a binding free energy (ΔG) of −10.7 kcal/mol alongside a dissociation constant (kDa) of 1.5e-08. In silico cloning demonstrations showed effective expression levels together with immune simulation predictions suggesting robust immunological responses. However this study has certain limitations, such as the experimental validation. Future in vivo and in vitro studies are required to confirm the immunogenicity and safety of the in-silico designed vaccine construct.