() is a zoonotic pathogen with multiple serotypes, and thus, multivalent vaccines generating cross-protection against infections are urgently needed to improve animal welfare and reduce antibiotic abuse. In this study, we established a systematic and comprehensive epitope prediction pipeline based on immunoinformatics. Ten candidate epitopes were ultimately selected for building the multi-epitope vaccine (MVSS) against infections. The ten epitopes of MVSS were all derived from highly conserved, immunogenic, and virulence-associated surface proteins in . In silico analyses revealed that MVSS was structurally stable and affixed with immune receptors, indicating that it would likely trigger strong immunological ... More
() is a zoonotic pathogen with multiple serotypes, and thus, multivalent vaccines generating cross-protection against infections are urgently needed to improve animal welfare and reduce antibiotic abuse. In this study, we established a systematic and comprehensive epitope prediction pipeline based on immunoinformatics. Ten candidate epitopes were ultimately selected for building the multi-epitope vaccine (MVSS) against infections. The ten epitopes of MVSS were all derived from highly conserved, immunogenic, and virulence-associated surface proteins in . In silico analyses revealed that MVSS was structurally stable and affixed with immune receptors, indicating that it would likely trigger strong immunological reactions in the host. Furthermore, mice models demonstrated that MVSS elicited high titer antibodies and diminished damages in serotype 2 and Chz infection, significantly reduced sequelae, induced cytokine transcription, and decreased organ bacterial burdens after triple vaccination. Meanwhile, anti-rMVSS serum inhibited five important serotypes in vitro, exerted beneficial protective effects against infections and significantly reduced histopathological damage in mice. Given the above, it is possible to develop MVSS as a universal subunit vaccine against multiple serotypes of infections.
