Designing an epitope vaccine against Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus: An in silico study

The house dust mite, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, is a major source of the inhaled allergen Der p 1, which
causes immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated hypersensitivity reactions manifesting in allergic diseases. To date, no
drugs or vaccines effectively treat or prevent Der p 1 sensitization. We applied in silico immunoinformatics to
design T-cell and B-cell epitopes that were specified and developed from the allergen Der p 1 of D. pteronyssinus.
We identified the conserved epitope areas by predicting the accessibility and flexibility of B-cell epitopes, and the
percentage of human leukocyte antigen representing T cells. Molecular docking using HADDOCK software
indicated three optimal clusters: cluster 6 (z-score: -2.1), cluster 1 (z-score: -1.2), and cluster 3 (z-score: -0.6). The
most negative Z-score was found in cluster 6, which represented three epitopes. The interaction between A chain
proteins (IgE protein residues) and B chains (Der p 1 protein residues) exhibited a knowledge-based FADE and
contact value >1, suggesting the best protein interactions occurred in the conserved area. Molecular dynamic
simulation further predicted the stable nature of Der p 1 protein. The IQRDNGYQP region is the best candidate to
be utilized as a D. pteronyssinus epitope vaccine, which could be used in the development of allergen-specific
immunotherapy.