Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major health problem worldwide. The BCG, the only authorized vaccine to fight TB, shows a variable protection in the adult population highlighting the need of a new vaccine. Immunoinformatics offers a variety of tools that can predict immunogenic T-cell peptides of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) that can be used to create a new vaccine. Immunoinformatics has made possible the identification of immunogenic T-cell peptides of Mtb that have been tested in vitro showing a potential for using these molecules as part of a new TB vaccine.
Areas covered: This review summarizes the most common immunoinformatics tools to identify immunogenic T-cell peptides and presents a compilation about research studies that have identified T-cell peptides of Mtb by using immunoinformatics. Also, it is provided a summary of the TB vaccines undergoing clinical trials.
Expert opinion: In the next few years, the field of peptide-based vaccines will keep growing along with the development of more efficient and sophisticated immunoinformatic tools to identify immunogenic peptides with a greater accuracy.
Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; T-cell peptides; Tuberculosis; immunoinformatics; peptide vaccine.