In Silico Antigenicity Screening of Moringa Coagulant

Abstract:

Moringa coagulant (MC) obtained from the seeds of plant moringa oleifera (family- Moringaceae) has been substantially investigated for water purification, but, scarcely pharmaceutical applications. Recent investigations state its utility in dissolution enhancement of poorly soluble drugs, amorphous state stabilization and extended drug release. To broaden the applications of MC as a pharmaceutical excipient, need has been felt to test its antigenicity owing to its proteinic nature. In silico antigenicity screening has been carried out to enable its use in formulation of both parenteral and oral dosage form. Virtual screening carried out using online servers (ProtScale Analysis, BcePred, ABCPred, HLA-DR4Pred) predicted the probable antigenic epitopes of MC using hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, exposed surface, secondary structure, antigenic propensity scale etc. Using these servers, the most probable antigenic regions in MC were observed to be 2-10, 29-34 and 47-53. The studies demonstrate that, MC may not pose difficulty in formulation of nonparenteral dosage forms, but, if intended for parenteral delivery, its antigenic domain needs to be exhaustively investigated.