Objectives In alignment with the World Health Organization’s goal of eliminating hepatitis C, this study assessed the current treatment status and reasons for non-treatment among patients with hepatitis C in Jeonbuk State, Republic of Korea, to inform strategies for improving care engagement.
Methods Among 311 individuals diagnosed with hepatitis C and reported through the National Notifiable Infectious Disease Surveillance system between January 2023 and June 2024, 208 patients were surveyed after excluding those who had died or could not be contacted. Statistical analyses included the chi-square test, the Cochran-Armitage test for trend, and logistic regression.
Results Overall, 116 participants (55.8%) reported having received antiviral therapy. Among the 92 untreated individuals, the most common reason for non-treatment was the absence of symptoms (n=23; 25.0%), followed by the burden of drug costs (n=21; 22.8%).
Conclusion These findings highlight suboptimal treatment uptake and key barriers that may hinder progress toward hepatitis C elimination. Expanding screening and strengthening linkage-to-care strategies, while addressing financial barriers, will be essential to achieving national elimination targets.
Objectives Incorporating CD40 ligand (CD40L) into vaccine strategies has shown considerable potential for enhancing immune responses. In this study, we designed and formulated a CD40Lbased multi-epitope vaccine construct using immunoinformatics approaches, and compared it to a full-length CD40L-based vaccine construct. Methods: The study commenced with the identification and screening of potential T-cell and B-cell epitopes derived from the CD40L protein, followed by the construction of a multi-epitope vaccine from these selected epitopes. We analyzed and validated the physicochemical and structural properties of the vaccine constructs. Further, we predicted disulfide bonds, performed protein-protein docking, and conducted molecular dynamics simulations to evaluate the constructs. Comparative analyses of the ligand-binding site localization were conducted using LigPlot. Additionally, simulation trajectories were analyzed using multiple descriptors, including root mean square deviations, radius of gyration, and root mean square fluctuations. Results: Our findings indicated that the CD40L multi-epitope vaccine construct possessed favorable physicochemical properties and a validated structural profile. Immune simulation studies showed a stronger affinity of the multi-epitope construct for the CD40 receptor compared to the full-length CD40L construct. Conclusion: Overall, the CD40L multi-epitope vaccine construct demonstrated greater potency in eliciting an effective immune response than the full-length CD40L construct. These results highlight a promising approach to vaccine design for the prevention or treatment of infections and cancers.
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Objectives Current tuberculosis (TB) control strategies face limitations, such as low antibiotic treatment compliance and a rise in multidrug resistance. Furthermore, the lack of a safe and effective vaccine compounds these challenges. The limited efficacy of existing vaccines against TB underscores the urgency for innovative strategies, such as immunoinformatics. Consequently, this study aimed to design a targeted multi-epitope vaccine against TB infection utilizing an immunoinformatics approach.
Methods The multi-epitope vaccine targeted Ag85A, Ag85B, ESAT-6, and CFP-10 proteins. The design adopted various immunoinformatics tools for cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL), helper T lymphocyte (HTL), and linear B lymphocyte (LBL) epitope prediction, the assessment of vaccine characteristics, structure modeling, population coverage analysis, disulfide engineering, solubility prediction, molecular docking/dynamics with toll-like receptors (TLRs), codon optimization/cloning, and immune simulation.
Results The multi-epitope vaccine, which was assembled using 12 CTL, 25 HTL, and 21 LBL epitopes associated with CpG adjuvants, showed promising characteristics. The immunoinformatics analysis confirmed the antigenicity, immunogenicity, and lack of allergenicity. Physicochemical evaluations indicated that the proteins were stable, thermostable, hydrophilic, and highly soluble. Docking simulations suggested high-affinity binding to TLRs, including TLR2, TLR4, and TLR9. In silico immune simulation predicted strong T cell (cytokine release) and B cell (immunoglobulin release) responses.
Conclusion This immunoinformatics-designed multi-epitope vaccine targeting Ag85A, Ag85B, ESAT-6, and CFP-10 proteins showed promising characteristics in terms of stability, immunogenicity, antigenicity, solubility, and predicted induction of humoral and adaptive immune responses. This suggests its potential as a prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine against TB.
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Objectives This study aimed to identify the optimal protein construction for designing a multi-epitope vaccine with both prophylactic and therapeutic effects against cervical cancer, utilizing an immunoinformatics approach. The construction process involved using capsid epitopes L1 and L2, as well as oncoproteins E5, E6, and E7 from human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18.
Methods An experimental in silico analysis with an immunoinformatics approach was used to develop 2 multi-epitope vaccine constructs (A and B). Further analysis was then conducted to compare the constructs and select the one with the highest potential against cervical cancer.
Results This study produced 2 antigenic, non-allergenic, and nontoxic multi-epitope vaccine constructs (A and B), which exhibited the ideal physicochemical properties for a vaccine. Further analysis revealed that construct B effectively induced both cellular and humoral immune responses.
Conclusion The multi-epitope vaccine construct B for HPV 16 and 18, designed for both prophylactic and therapeutic purposes, met the development criteria for a cervical cancer vaccine. However, these findings need to be validated through in vitro and in vivo experiments.
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<sec>
<title>Objectives</title>
<p>The aims of this meta-analysis were to examine intervention methods of qualitatively, well-designed studies from the past 10 years for treating visuo-spatial neglect (VSN) in patients who had suffered a stroke, and to evaluate the combined effects of intervention.</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>Methods</title>
<p>Studies published between 2008 and 2017 on the theme of VSN were collected from PubMed, CINAHL, and MEDLINE, representative academic databases and search engines. The PEDro scale was used for evaluating the quality of methodology. The sample size, mean, and standard deviation of identified studies were used for meta-analysis.</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>Results</title>
<p>Eight studies were selected for analysis. The PEDro scores of the selected studies were ≥ 7, with 237 subjects analyzed. The results of intervention were classified into “mental function” and “activity and participation” based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. The analyzed effect sizes for combined outcomes, mental function and, activity and participation, were 0.728 (medium effect size), 0.850 (large effect size), and 0.536 (medium effect size), respectively.</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>Conclusion</title>
<p>Intervention methods for treating VSN had a short-term effect on cognitive function (visual perception). In particular, non-invasive brain stimulation therapy showed a large effect size for VSN treatment.</p></sec>
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