AUTHOR=Cui Man , Ji Xiaohui , Guan Fengtao , Su Guimin , Du Lin 

TITLE=Design of a Helicobacter pylori multi-epitope vaccine based on immunoinformatics

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1432968

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2024.1432968

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Helicobacter pylori</italic> (<italic>H. pylori</italic>) is an infectious bacterium that colonizes the stomach of approximately half of the global population. It has been classified as a Group I carcinogen by the World Health Organization due to its strong association with an increased incidence of gastric cancer and exacerbation of stomach diseases. The primary treatment for <italic>H. pylori</italic> infection currently involves triple or quadruple therapy, primarily consisting of antibiotics and proton pump inhibitors. However, the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance poses significant challenges to this approach, underscoring the urgent need for an effective vaccine. In this study, a novel multi-epitope <italic>H. pylori</italic> vaccine was designed using immunoinformatics. The vaccine contains epitopes derived from nine essential proteins. Software tools and online servers were utilized to predict, evaluate, and analyze the physiochemical properties, secondary and tertiary structures, and immunogenicity of the candidate vaccine. These comprehensive assessments ultimately led to the formulation of an optimal design scheme for the vaccine. Through constructing a novel multi-epitope vaccine based on immunoinformatics, this study offers promising prospects and great potential for the prevention of <italic>H. pylori</italic> infection. This study also provides a reference strategy to develop multi-epitope vaccines for other pathogens.</p>