Analysis of B-Cell Epitope on E8l Protein Monkeypox Virus as a Peptide-Based Vaccine Candidate

¹ Master Program in Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang
² Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, State Islamic University of Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, Malang, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

Cases of Monkeypox virus infection in humans have been identified in the United Kingdom since 2022, then followed by several countries. World Health Organization has declared Monkeypox virus as a global health emergency. Monkeypox virus infects humans in the form of Intracellular Mature Virion (IMV) structure through E8L protein. IMV E8L protein has a region that can be recognized to antibodies, called a B-cell epitope. B-cell epitope have been extensively studied to construct peptide-based vaccine ingredients. The aim of this study was to find potential B cell epitope sequences for peptide-based vaccine candidates. This research was conducted in silico through B-cell epitope mapping, then several epitope candidates were tested based on several parameters such as antigenicity test, allergenicity test, docking simulation, and analysis of molecular interactions. This study identified four potential B-cell epitopes of the Monkeypox virus E8L protein as promising peptide-based vaccine candidates based on antigenicity and allergenicity analyses. Among these, the epitope KKKYSSYYEEAKK demonstrated the strongest interaction with the B-cell receptor (PDB ID: 5IFH), exhibiting a binding energy of -274.0 kJ/mol. Molecular docking revealed that the interaction was primarily mediated through lysine (positions 1 and 2) and tyrosine (position 4) residues, indicating stable and specific molecular recognition. These findings suggest that the E8L protein contains immunodominant regions capable of eliciting B-cell responses, supporting its potential as a subunit vaccine candidate against Monkeypox virus. The in silico approach applied in this study provides a cost-effective and time-efficient screening platform for epitope-based vaccine development prior to in vitro and in vivo validation. Furthermore, this study contributes to the rational design of next-generation peptide vaccines that minimize adverse immune reactions through early molecular-level evaluation of immunogenicity and allergenicity.