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Visceral leishmaniasis is a life-threatening infectious disease worldwide. Extensive experiments have been done to introduce potential vaccine candidates to combat leishmaniasis. The present study was done to evaluate Leishmania donovani hydrophilic acylated surface protein B1 as a potential vaccine candidate using in silico methods. For this aim, server-based predictions were performed regarding physicochemical characteristics, solubility, antigenicity, allergenicity, signal peptide, transmembrane domain, and posttranslational modifications (PTMs). Also, secondary and tertiary structures were predicted using NetSurfP-3.0 and I-TASSER, respectively. The 3D model was further subjected to refinement and validation, and promising B-cell, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL; human, dog), and helper T-lymphocyte (HTL; human) epitopes were predicted. The protein had a molecular weight of 42.19 kDa, with high solubility (0.749), stability (instability index: 21.34), and hydrophilicity (GRAVY: -2.322). No signal peptide or transmembrane domain was predicted, and the most abundant PTMs were phosphorylation, O-glycosylation, and acetylation. Many coils and disordered regions existed in the secondary structure analysis, and the tertiary model had a good confidence score (-0.79). Next, the ProSA-web and PROCHECK tools showed adequate improvements in the refined model compared to the crude model. Only 4 shared B-cell epitopes among three web servers (ABCpred, BepiPred 2.0, and SVMTriP) were shown to be antigenic, nonallergenic, and with good water solubility. Also, five potent CTL epitopes in dogs and five in humans were predicted. Notably, two HTL epitopes were found to be potential IFN-γ inducers. In conclusion, our results demonstrated several immunogenic epitopes in this protein, which could be directed towards multiepitope vaccine design.

Additional file 3. Quality assessment analysis of the included papers using Newcastle���Ottawa scale.

Additional file 2. Forest plot of the FUS prevalence obtained from published literature during 2016���2020.

Additional file 2. Forest plot of the FUS prevalence obtained from published literature during 2016���2020.

Additional file 3. Quality assessment analysis of the included papers using Newcastle���Ottawa scale.

Naser Nazari,1 Saeedeh Shojaee,2 Mehdi Mohebali,2 Aref Teimouri,2,3 Keyghobad Ghadiri,4 Saber Raeghi,5 Mohammad Reza Shiee,2,3 Yousef Azarakhsh,6 Arezoo Bozorgomid4 1Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran; 2Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3Students Scientific Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 4Infectious Diseases Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran; 5Department of Laboratory Sciences, Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, Maragheh, Iran; 6Department of Biology, Razi University, Kermanshah, IranCorrespondence: Arezoo BozorgomidInfectious Diseases Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, IranTel +98 918 872 8269Email arezoobozorgomid@yahoo.comPurpose: Rodents live in proximity to humans and domestic animals. These creatures can serve as reservoir hosts for many zoonotic parasites; therefore, they increase the risk of human infections. The aim of this study was to investigate Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in rodents caught in Meshgin-Shahr District, Iran.Patients and methods: In a cross-sectional study, brain samples were collected from 70 rodents caught in Meshgin-Shahr District during March and December 2015. The specimens were examined for exposure to T. gondii and N. caninum with molecular methods.Results: Seventy rodents were caught, including 50 Meriones persicus, 11 Mus musculus and 9 Cricetulus migratorius. Thirty rodents were female and 40 were males. Using PCR (B1 gene), T. gondii was detected in 7.1% (5/70) of the rodents while N. caninum was not detected. The prevalence of Toxoplasma infection was higher in female rodents (4.28%) compared to male rodents (2.86%), but the difference was not significant.Conclusion: The results showed a low risk of T. gondii and N. caninum among rodents. Finally, further research is needed to understand the role of these rodent species in the transmission of the above protozoan pathogens to humans and livestock in this area.Keywords: rodents, Neospora, Toxoplasma, prevalence, PCR, Iran