Computational Identification of Antigenic Proteins and Epitopes in Hantavirus sp. for Drug Repurposing


Notice

This is an unedited manuscript accepted for publication and provided as an Article in Press for early access at the author’s request. The article will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and galley proof review before final publication. Please be aware that errors may be identified during production that could affect the content. All legal disclaimers of the journal apply.

Year : 2025 | Volume : 03 | Issue : 01 | Page : –
    By

    Vartika Sahay,

  1. Student, Department of Biotechnology, Christ University, University in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Abstract

document.addEventListener(‘DOMContentLoaded’,function(){frmFrontForm.scrollToID(‘frm_container_abs_176100’);});Edit Abstract & Keyword

Hantavirus is an emerging virus that spreads from animals to humans and can cause serious illnesses like hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). there are no FDA-approved treatments available for these diseases. This study explores in-silico drug repurposing as a strategy to identify potential therapeutic candidates. The physicochemical, secondary structure, antigenicity, and post-translational modification analysis of hantavirus proteins—specifically the glycoprotein precursor, N protein, and non-structural (NS) protein—reveals promising targets for drug intervention.

The results reveal that all proteins exhibit antigenic properties, with the NS protein showing the highest antigenicity due to its role as an interferon antagonist, making it a promising target for immune-modulating therapies. PTM analysis highlights extensive phosphorylation and glycosylation, particularly in the glycoprotein precursor and RdRp, suggesting potential intervention points through kinase inhibitors or glycosylation inhibitors to disrupt viral replication and immune evasion mechanisms. The secondary structure analysis identifies significant flexibility in the glycoprotein precursor, which could be used to design drugs that target its structural transitions critical for viral entry and assembly.

The findings of this study provide valuable insights that can aid in the identification of appropriate drug for the treatment of Hantavirus infections. This study underscores the utility of computational methodologies in accelerating drug repurposing for emerging viral threats.

Keywords: Hantavirus, Drug repurposing, Protein analysis, Antigenicity, Post-translational modifications, In-silico.

[This article belongs to International Journal of Molecular Biotechnological Research (ijmbr)]

How to cite this article:
Vartika Sahay. Computational Identification of Antigenic Proteins and Epitopes in Hantavirus sp. for Drug Repurposing. International Journal of Molecular Biotechnological Research. 2025; 03(01):-.
How to cite this URL:
Vartika Sahay. Computational Identification of Antigenic Proteins and Epitopes in Hantavirus sp. for Drug Repurposing. International Journal of Molecular Biotechnological Research. 2025; 03(01):-. Available from: https://journals.stmjournals.com/ijmbr/article=2025/view=0


document.addEventListener(‘DOMContentLoaded’,function(){frmFrontForm.scrollToID(‘frm_container_ref_176100’);});Edit

References

  1. Avšič-Županc T, Saksida A, Korva M. Hantavirus infections. Clinical Microbiology and Infection. 2019 Apr 1;21:e6-16.
  2. Berjanskii MV, Wishart DS. Application of the random coil index to studying protein flexibility. Journal of biomolecular NMR. 2008 Jan;40:31-48.
  3. Bi Z, Formenty PB, Roth CE. Hantavirus infection: a review and global update. The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries. 2008 Feb 1;2(01):003-23.
  4. Can H, Köseoğlu AE, Erkunt Alak S, Güvendi M, Döşkaya M, Karakavuk M, Gürüz AY, Ün C. In silico discovery of antigenic proteins and epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 for the development of a vaccine or a diagnostic approach for COVID-19. Scientific reports. 2020 Dec 28;10(1):22387.
  5. Enany S. Structural and functional analysis of hypothetical and conserved proteins of Clostridium tetani. Journal of infection and public health. 2014 Jul 1;7(4):296-307.
  6. Chakravarty S, Varadarajan R. Elucidation of determinants of protein stability through genome sequence analysis. Febs Letters. 2000 Mar 17;470(1):65-9.
  7. Kurotani A, Tokmakov AA, Sato KI, Stefanov VE, Yamada Y, Sakurai T. Localization-specific distributions of protein pI in human proteome are governed by local pH and membrane charge. BMC Molecular and Cell Biology. 2019 Dec;20:1-0.
  8. Muyangwa M, Martynova EV, Khaiboullina SF, Morzunov SP, Rizvanov AA. Hantaviral proteins: structure, functions, and role in hantavirus infection. Frontiers in microbiology. 2015 Nov 27;6:1326.
  9. Panda S, Chandra G. Physicochemical characterization and functional analysis of some snake venom toxin proteins and related non-toxin proteins of other chordates. Bioinformation. 2012;8(18):891.
  10. Reed KD. Viral Zoonoses. Reference Module in Biomedical Sciences. 2018. B978-0-12-801238-3.95729-5. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-801238-3.95729-5; 2018.
  11. Safronetz D, Falzarano D, Scott DP, Furuta Y, Feldmann H, Gowen BB. Antiviral efficacy of favipiravir against two prominent etiological agents of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy. 2013 Oct;57(10):4673-80.
  12. Serris A, Stass R, Bignon EA, Muena NA, Manuguerra JC, Jangra RK, Li S, Chandran K, Tischler ND, Huiskonen JT, Rey FA. The hantavirus surface glycoprotein lattice and its fusion control mechanism. Cell. 2020 Oct 15;183(2):442-56.
  13. Singh TU, Parida S, Lingaraju MC, Kesavan M, Kumar D, Singh RK. Drug repurposing approach to fight COVID-19. Pharmacological reports. 2020 Dec;72:1479-508.
  14. Tokmakov AA, Kurotani A, Sato KI. Protein pI and intracellular localization. Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences. 2021 Nov 29;8:775736.
  15. Gygi SP, Corthals GL, Zhang Y, Rochon Y, Aebersold R. Evaluation of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis-based proteome analysis technology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2000 Aug 15;97(17):9390-5.
  16. World Health Organization. Regional Office for South-East Asia. A brief guide to emerging infectious diseases and zoonoses. WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia; 2014.
  17. Yoshimatsu K, Arikawa J. Antigenic properties of N protein of hantavirus. Viruses. 2014 Aug 13;6(8):3097-109.

Regular Issue Subscription Original Research
Volume 03
Issue 01
Received 27/12/2024
Accepted 11/01/2025
Published 28/02/2025
Publication Time 63 Days

async function fetchCitationCount(doi) {
let apiUrl = `https://api.crossref.org/works/${doi}`;
try {
let response = await fetch(apiUrl);
let data = await response.json();
let citationCount = data.message[“is-referenced-by-count”];
document.getElementById(“citation-count”).innerText = `Citations: ${citationCount}`;
} catch (error) {
console.error(“Error fetching citation count:”, error);
document.getElementById(“citation-count”).innerText = “Citations: Data unavailable”;
}
}
fetchCitationCount(“10.1037/ppm0000185”);

10.37591/IJMBR.v03i01.0

Loading citations…