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Despite extensive research, no vaccine has yet demonstrated durable efficacy in clinical settings. This study describes the development of a novel multi-epitope vaccine targeting\n                    <jats:italic>H. pylori<\/jats:italic>\n                    . Sixteen B- and T-cell epitopes derived from six virulence factors were identified using bioinformatics tools and assembled into a Multi-Epitope Unit (MEU) antigen. The MEU antigen was formulated either as a flagellin-adjuvanted protein or delivered via a recombinant Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) viral vector. Vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy were assessed in\n                    <jats:italic>H. pylori<\/jats:italic>\n                    SS1-challenged mice. Both formulations induced robust MEU-specific antibody and CD4\n                    <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                    T-cell responses, with the strongest immune responses observed following MEU-flagellin priming combined with MVA-MEU. The vaccines elicited balanced Th1\/Th2 immunity and increased CD4\n                    <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                    NKT-like cells frequencies. Notably, heterologous prime-boost vaccination or two doses of the MVA-MEU achieved complete bacterial clearance in both prophylactic and therapeutic models. These findings support the potential of MEU-based vaccines for preventing and treating\n                    <jats:italic>H. pylori<\/jats:italic>\n                    infection, thereby providing a strong rationale for advancement into toxicology studies clinical development.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41541-026-01409-9","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,16]],"date-time":"2026-03-16T13:18:01Z","timestamp":1773667081000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["A novel multi-epitope vaccine induces protective and therapeutic immunity against Helicobacter pylori"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Hassan","family":"Moeini","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amrollah","family":"Mostafazadeh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lars","family":"Schoenemann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abbas","family":"Yadegar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shaghayegh","family":"Jamshidizadeh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kosar","family":"Nayeri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Volker","family":"Wedershoven","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Florian","family":"Anderl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christian","family":"Schulz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bastian","family":"Popper","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peter","family":"Malfertheiner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Behnam","family":"Kalali","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"1409_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"332","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics12020332","volume":"12","author":"L Boyanova","year":"2023","unstructured":"Boyanova, L., Hadzhiyski, P., Gergova, R. & Markovska, R. 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