Promising signs from a novel Helicobacter Pylori vaccine

A novel vaccine against Helicobacter Pylori showed excellent protective and therapeutic efficacy in animal models. Additionally, the resulting anti-multi-epitope-unit antibodies demonstrated 100% binding reactivity to crude antigens from all 48 human clinical isolates tested, which were derived from international healthcare centres. According to the authors, this finding suggests that the vaccine can elicit immune responses against a broad range of H. Pylori strains in humans.

“There is currently no available vaccine for Helicobacter Pylori infections,” said Dr Behnam Kalali (Iguana BioTechnology, Germany). “Previous vaccines were not versatile enough to target this complex and flexible bacterium.” Dr Kalali explained that the new vaccine is based on a multi-epitope unit (MEU), which consists of 16 epitopes from 6 different H. Pylori virulence factors [1].

The vaccine displayed strong immunogenicity, protective efficacy, and therapeutic efficacy in animal models. “We observed specific immune responses in immunised animals, full protection against H. Pylori infections, and eradication of existing infections,” shared Dr Kalali. Importantly, to explore the possible clinical relevance of the vaccine, crude antigens were derived from 48 human clinical isolates of H. Pylori from various international healthcare centres and tested for binding capacity with anti-MEU antibodies generated from immunised mice. The research team achieved 100% binding success with the anti-MEU antibodies against the clinical isolates, covering a broad spectrum of bacterial strains.

“These findings demonstrate the potential of this new vaccine for human application,” concluded Dr Kalali.

1. Kalali B, et al. A novel multi-epitope based vaccine against Helicobacter Pylori. LB17, Latest news: From top to bottom, UEG Week, 4-7 October 2025, Berlin, Germany.

Medical writing support was provided by Robert van den Heuvel.
Copyright ©2025 Medicom Publishing Group

 



Posted on 9 October 2025