Biology subjects

Chukwudozie, O. S.

Publications and source records attributed to Chukwudozie, O. S..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2020

Anti-cancer Potential of Moringa oleifera on BRCA1 Gene: Systems Biology

Breast Cancer has always been a global challenge that is prevalent among women. There is a continuous increase in the high number of women mortality rates as a result of breast cancer and affecting countries at all levels of modernization. Women with high-risk factors including hereditary, obesity, and menopause have the possibility of developing breast cancer. With the advent of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and surgery in the treatment of breast cancer, there has an increased number of breast cancer survivors. Also, the design and development of drugs targeting therapeutic enzymes are helping to effectively treat the tumor cells at an early stage. However, long term use of anti-cancer drugs has been linked to severe side effects. This research aims to develop potential drug candidates from Moringa oleifera which could serve as anti-cancer agents. In silico analysis using Schrodinger Molecular Drug Discovery Suite and SWISS ADME was employed to determine the therapeutic potential of phytochemicals from M. oleifera against breast cancer via molecular docking, pharmacokinetic parameters, and drug-like properties. The result shows that Rutin, Vicenin-2, and Quercetin-3-O-glucoside have the highest binding energy of -7.522, -6.808, -6.635kcal/mol respectively in the active site of BRCA1. The essential amino acids involved in the protein-ligand interaction following active site analysis are ASN 1678, ASN 1774, GLY 1656, LEU 1657, GLN 1779, LYS 1702, SER 1655, PHE 1662, ARG 1699, GLU 1698, and VAL 1654. Thus, we propose that bioactive compounds from M. oleifera may be potential hit drug candidates against breast cancer.

systems biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Immuno-informatics Design of a Multimeric Epitope Peptide Based Vaccine Targeting SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein

Developing an efficacious vaccine to SARS-CoV-2 infection is critical to stem COVID-19 fatalities and providing the global community with immune protection. We have used a bioinformatic approach to aid in the design of an epitope peptide-based vaccine against the spike protein of the virus. Five antigenic B cell epitopes with viable antigenicity and a total of 27 discontinuous B cell epitopes were mapped out structurally in the spike protein for antibody recognition. We identified eight CD8+ T cell 9-mers along with 12 CD4+ T cell 14-15-mer as promising candidate epitopes putatively restricted by a large number of MHC-I and II alleles respectively. We used this information to construct an in silico chimeric peptide vaccine whose translational rate was highly expressed when cloned in pET28a (+) vector. The vaccine construct was predicted to elicit high antigenicity and cell-mediated immunity when given as a homologous prime-boost, with triggering of toll-like receptor 5 by the adjuvant linker. The vaccine was characterized by an increase in IgM and IgG and an array of Th1 and Th2 cytokines. Upon in silico challenge with SARS-CoV-2, there was a decrease in antigen levels using our immune simulations. We therefore propose that potential vaccine designs consider this approach.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2020

Attenuated Subcomponent Vaccine Design Targeting the SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Phosphoprotein RNA Binding Domain: In silico analysis

ABSTRACTThe novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has previously never been identified with humans, thereby creating devastation in public health. The need for an effective vaccine to curb this pandemic cannot be overemphasized. In view of this, we, therefore, designed a subcomponent antigenic peptide vaccine targeting the N-terminal (NT) and C-terminal (CT) RNA binding domains of nucleocapsid protein that aid in viral replication. Promising antigenic B-cells and T cell epitopes were predicted using computational pipelines. The peptides “RIRGGDGKMKDL” and “AFGRRGPEQTQGNFG” were the B cell linear epitopes with good antigenic index and non-allergenic property. Two CD8+ and Three CD4+ T-cell epitopes were also selected considering their safe immunogenic profiling such as allergenicity, antigen level conservancy, antigenicity, peptide toxicity, and putative restrictions to a number of MHC-I and II alleles. With these selected epitopes, a non-allergenic chimeric peptide vaccine incapable of inducing a Type II hypersensitivity reaction was constructed. The molecular interaction between the toll-like receptor-5 (TLR5) which was triggered by the vaccine was analyzed by molecular docking and scrutinized using dynamics simulation. Finally, in silico cloning was performed to ensure the expression and translation efficiency of the vaccine, utilizing pET-28a vector. This research, therefore, provides a guide for experimental investigation and validation.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.View Full Text

immunology↗

bioRxiv2020

The Function Annotations Of ST3GAL4 In Human LAMP1 And Lassa Virus GP-C Interaction From The Perspective Of Systems Virology

Lassa virus (LASV) is a single-stranded RNA virus that has plagued the Sub-Saharan part of Africa, precisely Nigeria where various pathogenic strains with varied genomic isoforms have been identified. The human lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1 (LAMP1) is alternately required for the micropinocytosis of LASV. Therefore, it is of interest to understand the mechanism of action of the host LAMP1 with LASV protein during infection. The role of ST3 beta-galactoside alpha-2, 3-sialyltransferase 4 (ST3GAL4) in the interaction between LASV (glycoprotein) GP-C and the human LAMP1 is relevant in this context. Deposited curated protein sequences of both LAMP1 and LASV GP-C were retrieved for the study. The ST3GAL4 associated data was constructed and analyzed from weighted network analysis to infer the function annotations and molecular mediators that characterize the LASV infection. The gene network shows that glycoprotein sialylation, sialyltransferase enzymatic activities and glycosphingolipid biosynthesis are linked with the ST3GAL4 function. However, the physical interaction of FAM 213A, CD8B molecule and proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 1 inhibitor (PCSK1N) with ST3GAL4 is intriguing in this perspective. There are eleven glycosylated asparagine sequons of the human LAMP1 but only nine were assigned a sialylated glycan cap to mediate the LASV GP-C and LAMP1 interaction having exceeded a recommended glycosylation threshold of 0.5. Therefore, the sialylated glycans of the human LAMP1 are a total of 9 and these sialylated glycans mediates the molecular recognition between LASV and LAMP1. This study therefore, predicts that there is a cellular interchange between N-linked glycosylation properties of the human LAMP1 and LASV glycoprotein, and sialylation functions of ST3GAL4 in LASV infectivity. Further studies and the clinical trial of this predictive model on the sialylated glycans of LAMP1 will facilitate the understanding of LASV micropinocytosis process in host cell.

bioinformatics↗