{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,3]],"date-time":"2026-10-03T14:26:53Z","timestamp":1791037613623,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":61,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,2]],"date-time":"2023-11-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1698883200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>The Bacillus Calmette-Gu\u00e9rin (BCG) vaccine, currently used against tuberculosis (TB), exhibits inconsistent efficacy, highlighting the need for more potent TB vaccines.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Materials and methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>In this study, we employed reverse vaccinology techniques to develop a promising multi-epitope vaccine (MEV) candidate, called PP13138R, for TB prevention. PP13138R comprises 34 epitopes, including B-cell, cytotoxic T lymphocyte, and helper T lymphocyte epitopes. Using bioinformatics and immunoinformatics tools, we assessed the physicochemical properties, structural features, and immunological characteristics of PP13138R.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The vaccine candidate demonstrated excellent antigenicity, immunogenicity, and solubility without any signs of toxicity or sensitization. <jats:italic>In silico<\/jats:italic> analyses revealed that PP13138R interacts strongly with Toll-like receptor 2 and 4, stimulating innate and adaptive immune cells to produce abundant antigen-specific antibodies and cytokines. <jats:italic>In vitro<\/jats:italic> experiments further supported the efficacy of PP13138R by significantly increasing the population of IFN-\u03b3<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T lymphocytes and the production of IFN-\u03b3, TNF-\u03b1, IL-6, and IL-10 cytokines in active tuberculosis patients, latent tuberculosis infection individuals, and healthy controls, revealing the immunological characteristics and compare the immune responses elicited by the PP13138R vaccine across different stages of <jats:italic>Mycobacterium tuberculosis<\/jats:italic> infection.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>These findings highlight the potential of PP13138R as a promising MEV candidate, characterized by favorable antigenicity, immunogenicity, and solubility, without any toxicity or sensitization.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2023.1280299","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,3]],"date-time":"2023-11-03T05:52:05Z","timestamp":1698990725000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":49,"title":["A comprehensive approach to developing a multi-epitope vaccine against Mycobacterium tuberculosis: from in silico design to in vitro immunization 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