Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40014550›Full record

ArticlePloS one2025

Immunoinformatic evaluation for the development of a potent multi-epitope vaccine against bacterial vaginosis caused by Gardnerella vaginalis.

Hamid Motamedi, Saeed Shoja, Maryam Abbasi

Erratum issuedAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Towards precision epitopes based vaccine againstBiochemistry and biophysics reports · 2025
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Hamid MotamediAsadabad School of Medical Sciences, Asadabad, Iran.ORCID 0000-0001-7699-1558
Saeed ShojaAsadabad School of Medical Sciences, Asadabad, Iran.
Maryam AbbasiEndocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundBacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common vaginal dysbiosis in fertile women, which is associated with side effects including the risk of premature birth. Gardnerella vaginalis (G. vaginalis) is a facultative anaerobic bacillus known as the main pathogen responsible for BV. In this study, using bioinformatics and immunoinformatics methods, a multi-epitope vaccine with optimal population coverage against BV caused by G. vaginalis was designed.

methodsAmino acid sequences of two important virulence factors (Vaginolysin and Sialidase) of G. vaginalis were retrieved from NCBI and UniProt databases. At first, three online servers ABCpred, BCPREDS and LBtope were used to predict linear B-cell epitopes (BCEs) and IEDB server was used for T cells. Then the antigenicity, toxicity, allergenicity were evaluated using bioinformatics tools. After modeling the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the vaccine by Robetta Server, molecular docking and molecular dynamics were performed. Finally, immune simulation and in silico cloning were considered effective for the design of vaccine production strategy.

resultsIn total, six epitopes of BCEs, eight epitopes from CD4+ and seven epitopes from CD8+ were selected. The designed multi-epitope vaccine was non-allergenic and non-toxic and showed high levels of antigenicity and immunogenicity. After the 3D structure was predicted, it was refined and validated, which resulted in an optimized model with a Z-score of -7.4. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation of the designed vaccine revealed stable and strong binding interactions. Finally, the results of vaccine immunity simulation showed a significant increase in immunoglobulins, higher levels of IFN-γ and IL-2.

conclusionAccording to the findings, the candidate multi-epitope vaccine has stable structural features. It also has the potential to stimulate long-term immunity in the host, but wet-lab validation is needed to justify it.

Indexed as

Bacterial VaccinesEpitopes, B-LymphocyteGardnerella vaginalisVaginosis, BacterialBacterial ProteinsBacterial ToxinsComputational BiologyEpitopesEpitopes, T-LymphocyteFemaleHumansMolecular Docking SimulationMolecular Dynamics SimulationVaccine DevelopmentBacterial ProteinsBacterial ToxinsBacterial VaccinesEpitopesEpitopes, B-LymphocyteEpitopes, T-Lymphocytevaginolysin, Gardnerella vaginalis

Identifiers

PMID40014550
PMCPMC11867334

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.