Vaccines against Infectious Pathogens

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "Vaccines against Infectious Diseases".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 12361

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Medicine Aballay Lab, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
Interests: vaccine development; emerging and re-emerging diseases; vaccines for diseases in under-reported areas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pathology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
Interests: RNA virus; zoonotic pathogens; hemorrhagic fever; emerging infectious disesase; vaccine development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As we know, through the development of better transportation, every region of the world has become increasingly interconnected. While it is beneficial, this increased interconnectivity has also led to a higher probability of disseminating infectious agents across different parts of the globe. In today’s world, no region is truly isolated, and infectious diseases that are endemic to any particular region have the propensity to be disseminated to another region. In this context, there can be no region that is less important than other regions when it comes to disease reporting and control. The recent pandemic is a clear indicator of the scale and seriousness of this issue. Keeping track of infectious diseases from any particular region through reliable reporting would help in planning and preparation for future outbreaks. Immunization through appropriate vaccines remains one of the best approaches to tackle the spread of communicable infectious agents and help mitigate the disease burden. However, not all disease outbreaks can be responded to with vaccines due to the lack of ideal vaccines. The lack of an ideal vaccine may be due to several reasons, such as the inherent properties of the pathogen that are a hurdle to the design of a suitable vaccine, the prevalence of the disease in a less economically strong country, and a lack of reliable disease reporting, which all lead to less research funding and fewer inputs for particular pathogens.

With these issues in mind, we are turning our attention and focus to all the “under-reported regions” of the globe, and encourage and welcome submissions of manuscripts on the following aspects:

  1. Perspectives on lesser-known infectious diseases in any part of the globe that require attention and entail vaccine development.
  2. Perspectives and reviews on human, veterinary and zoonotic diseases that have a high propensity to cause major outbreaks.
  3. Case reports of regional emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
  4. Regional vaccine efficacy studies.
  5. Regional vaccine-related issues.
  6. Development and improvement of current vaccines.

Dr. Jonathan Lalsiamthara
Dr. Junki Maruyama
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • regional disease reports
  • vaccines
  • zoonotic diseases
  • emerging disease

Published Papers (4 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

13 pages, 3241 KiB  
Article
Recombinant GPEHT Fusion Protein Derived from HTLV-1 Proteins with Alum Adjuvant Induces a High Immune Response in Mice
by Hamid Reza Jahantigh, Angela Stufano, Farhad Koohpeyma, Vajihe Sadat Nikbin, Zahra Shahosseini and Piero Lovreglio
Vaccines 2023, 11(1), 115; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/vaccines11010115 - 03 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1367
Abstract
The human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a positive single-stranded RNA virus that belongs to the delta retrovirus family. As a result, a vaccine candidate that can be recognized by B cells and T cells is a good candidate for generating [...] Read more.
The human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a positive single-stranded RNA virus that belongs to the delta retrovirus family. As a result, a vaccine candidate that can be recognized by B cells and T cells is a good candidate for generating a durable immune response. Further, the GPEHT protein is a multi-epitope protein designed based on the Gag, Pol, Env, Hbz, and Tax proteins of HTLV-1. In developing a suitable and effective vaccine against HTLV-1, the selection of a designed protein (GPEHT) with the formulation of an alum adjuvant was conducted. In this study, we assessed the potential of a multi-epitope vaccine candidate for stimulating the immune response against HTLV-1. In assessing the type of stimulated immune reaction, total IgG, IgG1, and IgG2a isotypes, as well as the cytokines associated with Th1 (IFN-γ), Th2 (IL-4), and Th17 (IL-17), were analyzed. The outcomes showed that the particular antisera (total IgG) were more elevated in mice that received the GPEHT protein with the alum adjuvant than those in the PBS+Alum control. A subcutaneous vaccination with our chimera protein promoted high levels of IgG1 and IgG2a isotypes. Additionally, IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-17 levels were significantly increased after spleen cell stimulation in mice that received the GPEHT protein. The immunogenic analyses revealed that the GPEHT vaccine candidate could generate humoral and cell-mediated immune reactions. Ultimately, this study suggests that GPEHT proteins developed with an alum adjuvant can soon be considered as a prospective vaccine to more accurately evaluate their protective efficacy against HTLV-1. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccines against Infectious Pathogens)
Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 3360 KiB  
Article
A Recombinant Chimeric Protein-Based Vaccine Containing T-Cell Epitopes from Amastigote Proteins and Combined with Distinct Adjuvants, Induces Immunogenicity and Protection against Leishmania infantum Infection
by Daniela P. Lage, Danniele L. Vale, Flávia P. Linhares, Camila S. Freitas, Amanda S. Machado, Jamille M. O. Cardoso, Daysiane de Oliveira, Nathália C. Galvani, Marcelo P. de Oliveira, João A. Oliveira-da-Silva, Fernanda F. Ramos, Grasiele S. V. Tavares, Fernanda Ludolf, Raquel S. Bandeira, Isabela A. G. Pereira, Miguel A. Chávez-Fumagalli, Bruno M. Roatt, Ricardo A. Machado-de-Ávila, Myron Christodoulides, Eduardo A. F. Coelho and Vívian T. Martinsadd Show full author list remove Hide full author list
Vaccines 2022, 10(7), 1146; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/vaccines10071146 - 19 Jul 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2720
Abstract
Currently, there is no licensed vaccine to protect against human visceral leishmaniasis (VL), a potentially fatal disease caused by infection with Leishmania parasites. In the current study, a recombinant chimeric protein ChimT was developed based on T-cell epitopes identified from the immunogenic Leishmania [...] Read more.
Currently, there is no licensed vaccine to protect against human visceral leishmaniasis (VL), a potentially fatal disease caused by infection with Leishmania parasites. In the current study, a recombinant chimeric protein ChimT was developed based on T-cell epitopes identified from the immunogenic Leishmania amastigote proteins LiHyp1, LiHyV, LiHyC and LiHyG. ChimT was associated with the adjuvants saponin (Sap) or monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA) and used to immunize mice, and their immunogenicity and protective efficacy were evaluated. Both ChimT/Sap and ChimT/MPLA induced the development of a specific Th1-type immune response, with significantly high levels of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-12, TNF-α and GM-CSF cytokines produced by CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subtypes (p < 0.05), with correspondingly low production of anti-leishmanial IL-4 and IL-10 cytokines. Significantly increased (p < 0.05) levels of nitrite, a proxy for nitric oxide, and IFN-γ expression (p < 0.05) were detected in stimulated spleen cell cultures from immunized and infected mice, as was significant production of parasite-specific IgG2a isotype antibodies. Significant reductions in the parasite load in the internal organs of the immunized and infected mice (p < 0.05) were quantified with a limiting dilution technique and quantitative PCR and correlated with the immunological findings. ChimT/MPLA showed marginally superior immunogenicity than ChimT/Sap, and although this was not statistically significant (p > 0.05), ChimT/MPLA was preferred since ChimT/Sap induced transient edema in the inoculation site. ChimT also induced high IFN-γ and low IL-10 levels from human PBMCs isolated from healthy individuals and from VL-treated patients. In conclusion, the experimental T-cell multi-epitope amastigote stage Leishmania vaccine administered with adjuvants appears to be a promising vaccine candidate to protect against VL. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccines against Infectious Pathogens)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

21 pages, 3018 KiB  
Review
Vaccine Candidates against Arenavirus Infections
by Takeshi Saito, Rachel A. Reyna, Satoshi Taniguchi, Kirsten Littlefield, Slobodan Paessler and Junki Maruyama
Vaccines 2023, 11(3), 635; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/vaccines11030635 - 13 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2449
Abstract
The viral family Arenaviridae contains several members that cause severe, and often lethal, diseases in humans. Several highly pathogenic arenaviruses are classified as Risk Group 4 agents and must be handled in the highest biological containment facility, biosafety level-4 (BSL-4). Vaccines and treatments [...] Read more.
The viral family Arenaviridae contains several members that cause severe, and often lethal, diseases in humans. Several highly pathogenic arenaviruses are classified as Risk Group 4 agents and must be handled in the highest biological containment facility, biosafety level-4 (BSL-4). Vaccines and treatments are very limited for these pathogens. The development of vaccines is crucial for the establishment of countermeasures against highly pathogenic arenavirus infections. While several vaccine candidates have been investigated, there are currently no approved vaccines for arenavirus infection except for Candid#1, a live-attenuated Junin virus vaccine only licensed in Argentina. Current platforms under investigation for use include live-attenuated vaccines, recombinant virus-based vaccines, and recombinant proteins. We summarize here the recent updates of vaccine candidates against arenavirus infections. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccines against Infectious Pathogens)
Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 289 KiB  
Review
Preventing the Next Pandemic: Is Live Vaccine Efficacious against Monkeypox, or Is There a Need for Killed Virus and mRNA Vaccines?
by Abdelaziz Abdelaal, Abdullah Reda, Basant Ismail Lashin, Basant E. Katamesh, Aml M. Brakat, Balqees Mahmoud AL-Manaseer, Sayanika Kaur, Ankush Asija, Nimesh K. Patel, Soney Basnyat, Ali A. Rabaan, Saad Alhumaid, Hawra Albayat, Mohammed Aljeldah, Basim R. Al Shammari, Amal H. Al-Najjar, Ahmed K. Al-Jassem, Sultan T. AlShurbaji, Fatimah S. Alshahrani, Ahlam Alynbiawi, Zainab H. Alfaraj, Duaa H. Alfaraj, Ahmed H. Aldawood, Yub Raj Sedhai, Victoria Mumbo, Alfonso J. Rodriguez-Morales and Ranjit Sahadd Show full author list remove Hide full author list
Vaccines 2022, 10(9), 1419; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/vaccines10091419 - 29 Aug 2022
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 5296
Abstract
(1) Background: The monkeypox virus (MPV) is a double-stranded DNA virus belonging to the Poxviridae family, Chordopoxvirinae subfamily, and Orthopoxvirus genus. It was called monkeypox because it was first discovered in monkeys, in a Danish laboratory, in 1958. However, the actual reservoir for [...] Read more.
(1) Background: The monkeypox virus (MPV) is a double-stranded DNA virus belonging to the Poxviridae family, Chordopoxvirinae subfamily, and Orthopoxvirus genus. It was called monkeypox because it was first discovered in monkeys, in a Danish laboratory, in 1958. However, the actual reservoir for MPV is still unknown. (2) Methods and Results: We have reviewed the existing literature on the options for Monkeypox virus. There are three available vaccines for orthopoxviruses—ACAM2000, JYNNEOS, and LC16—with the first being a replicating vaccine and the latter being non- or minimally replicating. (3) Conclusions: Smallpox vaccinations previously provided coincidental immunity to MPV. ACAM2000 (a live-attenuated replicating vaccine) and JYNNEOS (a live-attenuated, nonreplicating vaccine) are two US FDA-approved vaccines that can prevent monkeypox. However, ACAM2000 may cause serious side effects, including cardiac problems, whereas JYNNEOS is associated with fewer complications. The recent outbreaks across the globe have once again highlighted the need for constant monitoring and the development of novel prophylactic and therapeutic modalities. Based on available data, there is still a need to develop an effective and safe new generation of vaccines specific for monkeypox that are killed or developed into a mRNA vaccine before monkeypox is declared a pandemic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccines against Infectious Pathogens)
Back to TopTop