Due to several limitations of the only available BCG vaccine, to generate adequate protective immune responses, it is important to develop potent and cost-effective vaccines against tuberculosis (TB). In this study, we have used an immune-informatics approach to identify potential peptide based vaccine targets against TB. The proteome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of TB, was analyzed for secretory or surface localized antigenic proteins as potential vaccine candidates. The T- and B-cell epitopes as well as MHC molecule binding efficiency were identified and mapped in the modelled structures of the selected proteins. Based on antigenicity score and molecular dynamic simulation (MD) studies two peptides namely Pep-9 and Pep-15 were analyzed, modelled and docked with MHC-I and MHC-II structures. Both peptides exhibited no cytotoxicity and were able to induce proinflammatory cytokine secretion in stimulated macrophages. The molecular docking, MD and in-vitro studies of the predicted B and T-cell epitopes of Pep-9 and Pep-15 peptides with the modelled MHC structures exhibited strong binding affinity and antigenic properties, suggesting that the complex is stable, and that these peptides can be considered as a potential candidates for the development of vaccine against TB.

由于唯一可用的BCG疫苗有几个局限性，要产生足够的保护性免疫应答，开发有效且具成本效益的抗结核疫苗非常重要。在这项研究中，我们使用了一种免疫信息学方法来鉴定潜在的针对结核病的基于肽的疫苗靶标。结核分枝杆菌的蛋白质组分析了结核病的致病因子（Mtb）的分泌或表面定位抗原蛋白作为潜在的候选疫苗。确定了T细胞和B细胞表位以及MHC分子的结合效率，并将其映射到所选蛋白质的建模结构中。基于抗原性评分和分子动力学模拟（MD）研究，分析，建模并与MHC-I和MHC-II结构对接的两种肽，即Pep-9和Pep-15。两种肽均未表现出细胞毒性，并且能够在刺激的巨噬细胞中诱导促炎性细胞因子分泌。分子对接，医学博士和体外 具有模型MHC结构的Pep-9和Pep-15肽的预测B细胞和T细胞表位的研究显示出强大的结合亲和力和抗原特性，表明该复合物是稳定的，并且这些肽可以被视为潜在的候选物用于开发抗结核疫苗。