Integrated reiterative pipeline for rapid epitope-based pan-alphavirus vaccines
The vast diversity of the virosphere underscores the need for rapid, adaptable vaccine development infrastructures. Arthropod-borne zoonotic alphaviruses, in particular, continue to pose substantial threats to human and animal health. We present a fast, multitarget vaccine design pipeline integrating machine learning-based epitope prediction, protein modeling, and docking to prioritize viral peptides by immunogenicity, allele coverage, solubility, and stability. T cell epitopes were validated using peptide microarrays and molecular dynamics simulations, confirming receptor binding accuracy. Flow cytometry of murine and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells demonstrated robust T cell activation and cytokine secretion (IFN-γ, TNF-α, or IL-2), dependent on species and HLA allele. Final candidates were selected by composite immunogenicity scores. While this study primarily validates the T cell-specific arm of our predictive pipeline, complementary B cell epitope analyses are ongoing. Our findings support the development of broadly protective pan-alphaviral vaccines and the establishment of efficient, tunable processes for global vaccine development.
Authors
- Paulo S Lopes-de-Oliveira
- Rafael Elias Marques (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8348-5001)
- Shannan L. Rossi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2450-2374)
- Peter McCaffrey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4450-8143)
- Maurício Lacerda Nogueira
- Ribeiro-Filho, Helder Veras, 1988-
- Alice F. Versiani
- Jean-Paul Carrera
- Natalia I. O. Silva
- Nikos Vasilakis
Institutions
- Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud (PA)
- Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto (BR)
- Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (BR)
- Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory (BR)
- The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science Advances
- Published
- 2026-03-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aeb2066
- Primary Topic
- vaccines and immunoinformatics approaches
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00