Tiwary Pooja, Oswal Krishil, Varghese Ryan, Anchan Harsh, Oswal Mitul
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Poona College of Pharmacy, Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to Be) University, Pune, 411038, India.
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
Hum Cell. 2025 Jul 9;38(5):126. doi: 10.1007/s13577-025-01255-2.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic infection that has emerged as a significant public health threat recently. The world has experienced a global outbreak of the Monkeypox virus (MPXV), with 124,753 confirmed cases in 128 countries and a total of 272 fatalities as of February 13, 2025. This alarming increase in cases demands immediate attention to the underlying causes of the surge. The World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed the use of the MVA-BN vaccine, which was previously approved for smallpox prevention. However, there are currently no antiviral treatments approved by the FDA for MPXV. In addition, the emergence of mutations in MPXV strains poses challenges for the development and effectiveness of viable vaccines. Developing conventional vaccines is typically expensive, time-consuming, and requires extensive validation processes. Moreover, these vaccines often demonstrate suboptimal efficacy against emerging viral strains. As a response to these challenges, multi-epitope vaccines have gained significant interest for their potential to activate B-cell and T-cell responses, providing prolonged immunological activity against pathogens. These vaccines feature a targeted approach, offering chemical stability, non-infectious properties, rapid and cost-effective production, enhanced safety, and the potential to elicit a robust immune response. Several studies employing immunoinformatics have confirmed the efficacy of multi-epitope vaccines, designed to provide comprehensive immune protection against MPXV. These vaccines promise to deliver a strong immune response, better coverage against various viral strains and variants, and improved stability and effectiveness. In addition, they are expected to be non-allergenic, non-toxic, and highly antigenic. While promising results have been reported regarding the use of these vaccines for monkeypox, further research on their efficacy, delivery systems, and additional preclinical and clinical trials is crucial to maximize their benefits for humanity.
猴痘是一种病毒性人畜共患感染病，最近已成为重大的公共卫生威胁。全球经历了猴痘病毒（MPXV）的全球爆发，截至2025年2月13日，128个国家有124,753例确诊病例，共有272人死亡。病例的惊人增加要求立即关注病例激增的根本原因。世界卫生组织（WHO）已批准使用MVA-BN疫苗，该疫苗先前已被批准用于预防天花。然而，目前美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）尚未批准用于治疗MPXV的抗病毒药物。此外，MPXV毒株中出现的突变对可行疫苗的开发和有效性构成挑战。开发传统疫苗通常成本高昂、耗时且需要广泛的验证过程。此外，这些疫苗对新出现的病毒毒株的疗效往往欠佳。作为对这些挑战的回应，多表位疫苗因其激活B细胞和T细胞反应的潜力而备受关注，可提供针对病原体的长期免疫活性。这些疫苗具有靶向性，具有化学稳定性、非感染性、生产快速且经济高效、安全性增强以及引发强大免疫反应的潜力。几项采用免疫信息学的研究证实了多表位疫苗的有效性，这些疫苗旨在提供针对MPXV的全面免疫保护。这些疫苗有望产生强烈的免疫反应，更好地覆盖各种病毒毒株和变体，并提高稳定性和有效性。此外，预计它们无致敏性、无毒且具有高度抗原性。虽然关于这些疫苗用于猴痘的使用已报告了有前景的结果，但对其疗效、递送系统以及更多临床前和临床试验的进一步研究对于最大限度地为人类带来益处至关重要。
