Introduction: Helicobacter felis (GCF_000200595.1) is a Gram-negative, spiral-shaped bacterium associated with gastrointestinal infections and recognized as a causative agent of gastrointestinal cancer in certain hosts. Commonly found in the gastric mucosa, H. felis is an opportunistic pathogen that can infect both animals and humans. Understanding its virulence factors, pathogenic mechanisms, and epidemiology is vital for developing effective prevention and treatment strategies due to its clinical significance and public health impact. The increasing antibiotic resistance of H. felis poses significant challenges, making vaccination a promising approach for combating infections caused by this bacterium. Although several vaccine candidates have been explored, no commercially available vaccine has yet demonstrated high efficacy. This study aimed to design an epitope-based vaccine candidate to effectively target H. felis infections using a bioinformatics approach.
Methods: Bioinformatics tools and servers were employed to identify and evaluate potential vaccine candidates. The H. felis genome (GCF_000200595.1) was analyzed to extract open reading frames (ORFs). These ORFs were assessed for toxicity, allergenicity, immunogenicity, and homology to select non-toxic, non-allergenic, and highly immunogenic candidates for vaccine design. Subsequently, B-cell and T-cell epitopes were predicted and combined with adjuvants, linkers, and a His-tag to construct the vaccine candidate. The vaccine construct underwent comprehensive evaluation, including molecular docking to assess its binding affinity to immune receptors.
Results: Following analysis, an extracellular protein with a high immunogenicity score was selected as the vaccine candidate. The final vaccine construct incorporated 12 B-cell and T-cell epitopes, combined with appropriate adjuvants and linkers. The designed vaccine was confirmed to be non-toxic, non-allergenic, and exhibited an immunogenicity score of 0.8921. Molecular docking studies demonstrated strong binding interactions between the vaccine construct and target immune receptors. Additionally, the vaccine passed all virtual assessments, including evaluations of physicochemical properties, secondary and tertiary structures, and stability.
Conclusion: The results suggest that this multiepitope-based vaccine candidate holds promise as an effective tool against H. felis infections and warrants further development. Additional studies, including in vitro and in vivo experiments, are necessary to validate the vaccine’s functional characteristics, safety, efficacy, and long-term protective effects in animal models.