Computational immunology in venom research: a systematic review of epitope prediction and validation approaches.

ABSTRACT: Venom-based therapies are hindered by traditional discovery methods that are costly and inconsistent. Immunoinformatics offers a faster route to identify immunogenic epitopes, yet its application to venom proteins remains limited. We conducted a systematic review under PRISMA-2020 guidelines to identify studies predicting venom toxin epitopes computationally and validating them experimentally. Risk of bias was evaluated using a custom 20-question checklist. Following our systematic search, 11 articles met inclusion criteria. Multitool prediction strategies consistently outperformed single-tool approaches, particularly when structural and sequence-based models were combined. Experimental validations confirmed immunogenicity through diverse assays, but reporting inconsistencies, limited nega

SUBMITTER: Zegrari R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12494218 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature