Vaccinomics: a future avenue for vaccine development against emerging pathogens

Increases in the world’s population and population density promote the spread of emerging pathogens. Vaccines are the most cost-effective means of preventing this spread. Traditional methods used to identify and produce new vaccines are not adequate, in most instances, to ensure global protection. New technologies are urgently needed to expedite large scale vaccine development. mRNA-based vaccines promise to meet this need. mRNA-based vaccines exhibit a number of potential advantages relative to conventional vaccines, namely they (1) involve neither infectious elements nor a risk of stable integration into the host cell genome; (2) generate humoral and cell-mediated immunity; (3) are well-tolerated by healthy individuals; and (4) are less expensive and produced more rapidly by processes that are readily standardized and scaled-up, improving responsiveness to large emerging outbreaks. Multiple mRNA vaccine platforms have demonstrated efficacy in preventing infectious diseases and treating several types of cancers in humans as well as animal models. This review describes the factors that contribute to maximizing the production of effective mRNA vaccine transcripts and delivery systems, and the clinical applications are discussed in detail.

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Nanovaccines against Animal Pathogens: The Latest Findings

Vaccines ◽

10.3390/vaccines9090988 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

pp. 988

Author(s):

Carmen Teresa Celis-Giraldo ◽

Julio López-Abán ◽

Antonio Muro ◽

Manuel Alfonso Patarroyo ◽

Raúl Manzano-Román

Keyword(s):

Vaccine Development ◽

Polymeric Nanoparticles ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Antigen Delivery ◽

Emerging Pathogens ◽

Persistent Infections ◽

Self Assembling ◽

Animal Pathogens ◽

Novel Delivery Systems ◽

Encapsulation Ability

Nowadays, safe and efficacious vaccines represent powerful and cost-effective tools for global health and economic growth. In the veterinary field, these are undoubtedly key tools for improving productivity and fighting zoonoses. However, cases of persistent infections, rapidly evolving pathogens having high variability or emerging/re-emerging pathogens for which no effective vaccines have been developed point out the continuing need for new vaccine alternatives to control outbreaks. Most licensed vaccines have been successfully used for many years now; however, they have intrinsic limitations, such as variable efficacy, adverse effects, and some shortcomings. More effective adjuvants and novel delivery systems may foster real vaccine effectiveness and timely implementation. Emerging vaccine technologies involving nanoparticles such as self-assembling proteins, virus-like particles, liposomes, virosomes, and polymeric nanoparticles offer novel, safe, and high-potential approaches to address many vaccine development-related challenges. Nanotechnology is accelerating the evolution of vaccines because nanomaterials having encapsulation ability and very advantageous properties due to their size and surface area serve as effective vehicles for antigen delivery and immunostimulatory agents. This review discusses the requirements for an effective, broad-coverage-elicited immune response, the main nanoplatforms for producing it, and the latest nanovaccine applications for fighting animal pathogens.

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Sex Differences in Immunity: Implications for the Development of Novel Vaccines Against Emerging Pathogens

Frontiers in Immunology ◽

10.3389/fimmu.2020.601170 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Anahita Fathi ◽

Marylyn M. Addo ◽

Christine Dahlke

Keyword(s):

Clinical Trials ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Ebola Virus ◽

Vaccine Development ◽

Virus Disease ◽

Emerging Infectious Diseases ◽

Vaccine Safety ◽

Emerging Infections ◽

Emerging Pathogens ◽

Vaccine Candidates

Vaccines are one of the greatest public health achievements and have saved millions of lives. They represent a key countermeasure to limit epidemics caused by emerging infectious diseases. The Ebola virus disease crisis in West Africa dramatically revealed the need for a rapid and strategic development of vaccines to effectively control outbreaks. Seven years later, in light of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, this need has never been as urgent as it is today. Vaccine development and implementation of clinical trials have been greatly accelerated, but still lack strategic design and evaluation. Responses to vaccination can vary widely across individuals based on factors like age, microbiome, co-morbidities and sex. The latter aspect has received more and more attention in recent years and a growing body of data provide evidence that sex-specific effects may lead to different outcomes of vaccine safety and efficacy. As these differences might have a significant impact on the resulting optimal vaccine regimen, sex-based differences should already be considered and investigated in pre-clinical and clinical trials. In this Review, we will highlight the clinical observations of sex-specific differences in response to vaccination, delineate sex differences in immune mechanisms, and will discuss the possible resulting implications for development of vaccine candidates against emerging infections. As multiple vaccine candidates against COVID-19 that target the same antigen are tested, vaccine development may undergo a decisive change, since we now have the opportunity to better understand mechanisms that influence vaccine-induced reactogenicity and effectiveness of different vaccines.

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Structure-Based Vaccine Antigen Design

Annual Review of Medicine ◽

10.1146/annurev-med-121217-094234 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 70 (1) ◽

pp. 91-104 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Barney S. Graham ◽

Morgan S.A. Gilman ◽

Jason S. McLellan

Keyword(s):

Vaccine Development ◽

Structural Information ◽

Protein Structures ◽

Surface Protein ◽

Surface Proteins ◽

Vaccine Antigen ◽

Viral Fusion ◽

Emerging Pathogens ◽

Syncytial Virus ◽

Viral Surface

Enabled by new approaches for rapid identification and selection of human monoclonal antibodies, atomic-level structural information for viral surface proteins, and capacity for precision engineering of protein immunogens and self-assembling nanoparticles, a new era of antigen design and display options has evolved. While HIV-1 vaccine development has been a driving force behind these technologies and concepts, clinical proof-of-concept for structure-based vaccine design may first be achieved for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), where conformation-dependent access to neutralization-sensitive epitopes on the fusion glycoprotein determines the capacity to induce potent neutralizing activity. Success with RSV has motivated structure-based stabilization of other class I viral fusion proteins for use as immunogens and demonstrated the importance of structural information for developing vaccines against other viral pathogens, particularly difficult targets that have resisted prior vaccine development efforts. Solving viral surface protein structures also supports rapid vaccine antigen design and application of platform manufacturing approaches for emerging pathogens.

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Decorated and Encapsulated: Virus-Like Particles Against Viral Infections

Vaccines ◽

10.3390/vaccines9030273 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 273

Author(s):

Vladimir Temchura

Keyword(s):

Viral Infections ◽

Vaccine Development ◽

Vaccine Design ◽

Emerging Pathogens ◽

Virus Like Particles ◽

Novel Technologies ◽

Great Progress ◽

Rational Vaccine Design

Despite great progress in the field of vaccine development, outbreaks of emerging pathogens and insufficient immunogenicity of some licensed vaccines call for the development of novel technologies in rational vaccine design [...]

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Potential for Developing Plant-Derived Candidate Vaccines and Biologics against Emerging Coronavirus Infections

Pathogens ◽

10.3390/pathogens10081051 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 1051

Author(s):

Balamurugan Shanmugaraj ◽

Konlavat Siriwattananon ◽

Ashwini Malla ◽

Waranyoo Phoolcharoen

Keyword(s):

Vaccine Development ◽

Therapeutic Interventions ◽

Scale Production ◽

Emerging Pathogens ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Expression Platform ◽

Global Priority ◽

Long Time ◽

Global Health Care ◽

Coronavirus Infections

The emerging human coronavirus infections in the 21st century remain a major public health crisis causing worldwide impact and challenging the global health care system. The virus is circulating in several zoonotic hosts and continuously evolving, causing occasional outbreaks due to spill-over events occurring between animals and humans. Hence, the development of effective vaccines or therapeutic interventions is the current global priority in order to reduce disease severity, frequent outbreaks, and to prevent future infections. Vaccine development for newly emerging pathogens takes a long time, which hinders rapid immunization programs. The concept of plant-based pharmaceuticals can be readily applied to meet the recombinant protein demand by means of transient expression. Plants are evolved as an expression platform, and they bring a combination of unique interests in terms of rapid scalability, flexibility, and economy for industrial-scale production of effective vaccines, diagnostic reagents, and other biopharmaceuticals. Plants offer safe biologics to fulfill emergency demands, especially during pandemic situations or outbreaks caused by emerging strains. This review highlights the features of a plant expression platform for producing recombinant biopharmaceuticals to combat coronavirus infections with emphasis on COVID-19 vaccine and biologics development.

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