en Humanand veterinary vaccines Humanand veterinary vaccines Original article Original article <strong>Introduction:</strong> Shigellosis is a form of acute intestinal infection and one of the global health problems that occur in human by pathogenic species of <em>Shigella</em>. Producing a cost-effective and protective vaccine against the pathogenic strains of these bacteria will have a significant effect on the improvement of public health. The purpose of this research&not; was to design, express and purify a multiepitope protein as a candidate vaccine against <em>Shigella</em> pathogenic species. <strong>Methods:</strong> The multi-epitope protein-encoding Ipas, Omps and IcsA genes was designed based on previous bioinformatics assessments and synthesized in pET28a (+) expression vector. Since no detectable expression was observed, the gene was subcloned into pET32a (+). The pET32a (+) recombinant vector containing the desired gene was transferred into <em>Escherichia coli</em> BL21 (DE3) and the expression of the recombinant protein was induced using IPTG. The protein was purified using a nickel column. Finally, the Western blotting method was used to confirm the expression of the recombinant protein. <strong>Results:</strong> The sub-cloning of the gene was confirmed using PCR reaction. Gene expression analysis showed that the desired protein had a suitable expression. Western blotting analysis confirmed the expression of the recombinant protein. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> The expressed and purified multi-epitope recombinant protein, containing the main epitopes of the common antigens of pathogenic <em>Shigella</em> species could be achieved as the first step to design a multiepitope vaccine candidate against shigellosis. Shigellosis, recombinant protein, multi-epitope vaccine, Shigella 18 22 http://vacres.pasteur.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-4840-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Amir Namvar amirnamvar1372@gmail.com 0000-0002-7069-922X No Biology Research Center, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Imam Hossein University, Tehran, Iran Abbas Hajizade abbashajizade@gmail.com 0000-0003-3662-6681 Yes Biology Research Center, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Imam Hossein University, Tehran, Iran Shahram Nazarian Shahram.Nazarian@gmail.com No Biology Research Center, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Imam Hossein University, Tehran, Iran Davoud Sadeghi davudsadeghi64@yahoo.com No Biology Research Center, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Imam Hossein University, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Reza Akbari mohammad.reza76r@gmail.com No Biology Research Center, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Imam Hossein University, Tehran, Iran Yousof Tarverdizade yosof.tarverdizadeh@gmail.com No Biology Research Center, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Imam Hossein University, Tehran, Iran