cloning, expression, purification and functional analysis of a specific multi-epitope protein from multi drug resistance acinetobacter baumannii

Background and objectives: immunization is a promising strategy to combat against the life-threatening infections by multi drug resistance acinetobacter baumannii. in this study, we directed to design and evaluate the efficacy of a recombinant multi-epitope protein against this pathogen. materials and methods: epitopes prediction was performed for candidate proteins ompa and bam complex (bama, bamb, bamc, bamd, bame) from a. baumannii, using immune-informatics tools with high affinity for the human hla alleles. after expression and purification of the recombinant protein, its functional activity was confirmed by interaction with positive sera. results: cloning and expression of the desired multi-epitopes protein were verified. circular dichroism study showed the secondary structure and proper refolding of the recombinant protein was achieved and matched with computational prediction. there was a significant interaction between designed protein with antibodies presented in icu patients' and staff's sera. conclusion: the interaction of the recombinant protein with patients' sera antibodies suggests that it may be a promising determinant protein for immunization against of mdr a. baumannii.