Design and Evaluation of a Broadly Multivalent Adhesins-Based Multi-Epitope Fusion Antigen Vaccine Against Enterotoxigenic <i>Escherichia coli</i> Infection.

ABSTRACT: Background: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a zoonotic pathogen causing diarrhea and mortality in infants and livestock. Its numerous serotypes necessitate the urgent development of multivalent vaccines for effective prevention, thereby reducing public health and economic threats. Methods: Computational bioinformatics analyses were conducted on five major ETEC adhesins structural subunits (FaeG, FanC, FasA, FimF41a, and FedF). Dominant epitopes were selected and concatenated via flexible linkers, incorporating the PADRE sequence and LTb adjuvant to design a multi-epitope fusion antigen (MEFA). The recombinant MEFA protein was expressed in a prokaryotic system. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations, docking, and immune simulations assessed structural st

SUBMITTER: Jia Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12567700 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature