In silico design and evaluation of multi-epitope dengue virus vaccines: a promising approach to combat global dengue burden

Dengue virus, a pervasive mosquito-borne pathogen, imposes a substantial global health burden and is responsible for numerous fatalities annually globally, with tropical and sub-tropical regions particularly susceptible to dengue outbreaks. Despite decades of efforts, there has been no effective treatment or prevention for dengue, which makes it a life-threatening disease. Hence, this study proposes an innovative bioinformatics-driven approach to construct a vaccine targeting the dengue virus. The study involved a comprehensive analysis of conserved regions of dengue virus serotypes 1–4's non-structural proteins (NS1, NS3, and NS5) and structural protein (E) to predict the potential B T-cell epitopes which were linked with appropriate adjuvants and linkers to generate four distinct vaccine candidates. The constructed vaccine models underwent rigorous evaluation, considering physicochemical attributes, structural integrity, population coverage, and immune system response through simulation. The results confirm that these vaccine candidates are non-allergenic, non-toxic, antigenic, and immunogenic. Additionally, they exhibit 99.70