Naz Anam, Awan Faryal Mehwish, Obaid Ayesha, Muhammad Syed Aun, Paracha Rehan Zafar, Ahmad Jamil, Ali Amjad
Computational Biology and Genomics (CBG) Research Group, Atta-ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences (ASAB), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), H-12 Islamabad, Pakistan.
Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.
Infect Genet Evol. 2015 Jun;32:280-91. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2015.03.027. Epub 2015 Mar 27.
Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is an important pathogen associated with diverse gastric disorders ranging from peptic ulcer to malignancy. It has also been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as class I carcinogen. Conventional treatment regimens for H. pylori seem to be ineffective, possibly due to antibiotic resistance mechanisms acquired by the pathogen. In this study we have successfully employed a reverse vaccinology approach to predict the potential vaccine candidates against H. pylori. The predicted potential vaccine candidates include vacA, babA, sabA, fecA and omp16. Host-pathogen interactions analysis elaborated their direct or indirect role in the specific signaling pathways including epithelial cell polarity, metabolism, secretion system and transport. Furthermore, surface-exposed antigenic epitopes were predicted and analyzed for conservation among 39 complete genomes of H. pylori (Genbank) for all the candidate proteins. These epitopes may serve as a base for the development of broad spectrum peptide or multi-component vaccines against H. pylori. We also believe that the proposed pipeline can be extended to other pathogens and for the identification of novel candidates for the development of effective vaccines.
幽门螺杆菌（H. pylori）是一种重要的病原体，与从消化性溃疡到恶性肿瘤等多种胃部疾病相关。它也被世界卫生组织（WHO）认定为I类致癌物。幽门螺杆菌的传统治疗方案似乎无效，这可能是由于该病原体获得了抗生素耐药机制。在本研究中，我们成功采用了反向疫苗学方法来预测针对幽门螺杆菌的潜在疫苗候选物。预测的潜在疫苗候选物包括VacA、BabA、SabA、FecA和Omp16。宿主-病原体相互作用分析阐述了它们在包括上皮细胞极性、代谢、分泌系统和转运在内的特定信号通路中的直接或间接作用。此外，还对所有候选蛋白在39个幽门螺杆菌完整基因组（Genbank）中的表面暴露抗原表位进行了预测和保守性分析。这些表位可为开发针对幽门螺杆菌的广谱肽疫苗或多组分疫苗奠定基础。我们还认为，所提出的流程可扩展到其他病原体，并用于鉴定开发有效疫苗的新候选物。
