Identification of putative vaccine candidates against Helicobacter pylori exploiting exoproteome and secretome: A reverse vaccinology based approach

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is an important pathogen associated with diverse gastric disorders ranging from peptic ulcer to malignancy. It has also been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as class I carcinogen. Conventional treatment regimens for H. pylori seem to be ineffective, possibly due to antibiotic resistance mechanisms acquired by the pathogen. In this study we have successfully employed a reverse vaccinology approach to predict the potential vaccine candidates against H. pylori. The predicted potential vaccine candidates include vacA, babA, sabA, fecA and omp16. Host-pathogen interactions analysis elaborated their direct or indirect role in the specific signaling pathways including epithelial cell polarity, metabolism, secretion system and transport. Furthermore, surface-exposed antigenic epitopes were predicted and analyzed for conservation among 39 complete genomes of H. pylori (Genbank) for all the candidate proteins. These epitopes may serve as a base for the development of broad spectrum peptide or multi-component vaccines against H. pylori. We also believe that the proposed pipeline can be extended to other pathogens and for the identification of novel candidates for the development of effective vaccines.