Design and computational evaluation of a prophylactic and therapeutic multi-epitope vaccine candidate against cervical cancer

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Connor

Cervical cancer remains the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide and is primarily driven by human papillomavirus (HPV), with HPV16/18 strongly linked to disease development. Limited vaccine availability in economically underdeveloped regions and reduced efficacy against existing infections and lesions motivate a computational design. The study builds a multi-epitope vaccine combining CTL, HTL, and linear B-cell epitopes from conserved HPV16/18 E6, E7, and L2 regions, adds RS-09 adjuvant, models structures, performs docking and molecular dynamics, and simulates immune responses, followed by in silico cloning in pET28a(+).

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Emadi etal. Virology Journal (2026) 23:45 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12985-026-03072-x](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12985-026-03072-x) Virology Journal RESEARCH Open Access Design and computational evaluation of a prophylactic and therapeutic multi-epitope vaccine candidate against cervical cancer Seyedeh Hamideh Emadi 1, Sajjad Ahmad2, Mojgan Rahmanian 1, Rasoul Baharlou3,4, Faisal Ahmad5, Shahrzad Aghaamoo1* and Samira Sanami6* Abstract Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide, caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) . HPV16 /18 are strongly associated with the development of cervical cancer. HPV vaccines are not widely available in economically underdeveloped areas. They also have limited efficacy against pre-existing HPV infections and cervical lesions. Therefore, the study aims to computationally design a vaccine that induces both prophylactic and therapeutic immunity against cervical cancer. Using computational approaches, we designed a multi-epitope vaccine incorporating 62 cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes, 7 helper T lymphocyte (HTL) epitopes, and 3 linear B-cell epitopes from conserved regions of HPV16/18 E6, E7, and L2 proteins. To increase immunogenicity, the adjuvant RS-09 (APPHALS) was added to the N-terminal of the vaccine. The chosen CTL and HTL epitopes have the potential to achieve 100% worldwide population coverage. The vaccine candidate has appropriate physicochemical properties. The vaccine’s secondary and tertiary structures were predicted, followed by refinement and validation of the models. The vaccine has a high affinity for Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), as indicated by its molecular docking score of-1164.4 kcal/mol and RMSD fluctuation range of 17 to 22.5 angstroms (Å) at the end of the MD simulation period. Immune response simulation showed that the vaccine candidate could induce strong humoral and cellular immune responses. The vaccine sequence’s GC content was calculated to be 48. 99%, and subsequently, in silico cloning of the vaccine was performed in the pET28a (+) vector. The results reveal that this vaccine is highly immunogenic; however, experimental testing is required to confirm its efficacy and safety. Keywords Cervical cancer, HPV, Multi-epitope vaccine, Adjuvant, Immunoinformatics, Molecular docking *Correspondence: Shahrzad Aghaamoo [aghaamoo_shahrzad@yahoo.com](aghaamoo_shahrzad@yahoo.com)[ ](aghaamoo_shahrzad@yahoo.com)Samira Sanami[samirasanami34@yahoo.com](samirasanami34@yahoo.com) 1Research Center of Physiology, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran 2Department of Health and Biological Sciences, Abasyn University, Peshawar 25000, Pakistan 3Cancer Research Center, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran 4Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran 5National Institute of Health Islamabad, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan 6Research Center of Physiology, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran © The Author(s) 2026. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy

FAQs

What problem does the study address regarding current HPV vaccines?

It targets limited vaccine availability in economically underdeveloped areas and limited efficacy against pre-existing HPV infections and cervical lesions.

What epitopes and proteins were used to design the vaccine candidate?

The vaccine was designed from conserved regions of HPV16/18 E6, E7, and L2 proteins, incorporating 62 CTL epitopes, 7 HTL epitopes, and 3 linear B-cell epitopes.

How was the vaccine’s interaction with the immune-related target evaluated?

Molecular docking assessed a high affinity for Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), supported by docking score and molecular dynamics RMSD fluctuation ranges, followed by immune response simulation.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Connor