Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)—Antigen Interactions in Vaccine Development
A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 12 November 2024 | Viewed by 801
Special Issue Editor
Interests: human leukocyte antigen; vaccines against pathogens; vaccines against SARS-CoV-2; vaccines against cancer; human herpes and other viruses; cancer neoantigens
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Vaccines are widely used to prevent illness by pathogens and, more recently, kill cancer cells. In both cases, vaccines contain the antigens of pathogens (e.g., viral proteins) or antigens of cancers (e.g., cancer neoantigens), and are administered to healthy people (for prevention of infection) or patients (for cancer therapy). The success of vaccines in prevention or therapy depends critically on the ability of the host to make antibodies against the antigen(s) of the vaccines: if antibodies cannot be made, the vaccine will not be effective. The successful mounting of antibodies against specific antigens critically depends on the host's HLA Class II genetic makeup. The focus of this Special Issue lies in the interactions of vaccine antigen(s) and HLA Class II molecules binding together to initiate antibody production. This matter is of major scientific, medical and public health importance. For this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews in biological, biophysical, evolutionary, computational, clinical, epidemiological and theoretical research areas are welcome, that may include (but not limited to) the following as representative examples:
- Biological: Evaluation of the role of HLA in antibody production for specific vaccine targets (pathogens, cancer neoantigens).
- Biophysical: Modeling of biophysical aspects of antigen–HLA molecule binding.
- Evolutionary: Investigation of the parallel evolution of pathogens and HLA.
- Computational: In silico estimation of antigen–HLA binding aaffinities.
- Clinical: Investigation of the dependence of cancer vaccine therapy on the patients’ HLA makeup.
- Epidemiological: Investigation of HLA makeup as a factor in the clinical efficacy of vaccines within populations.
- Theoretical: Exploring aspects of antigen–HLA interactions for future optimal vaccine design.
I look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Apostolos P. Georgopoulos
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- HLA
- vaccine
- antigen
- antibody
- cancer
- binding affinity
- biophysical modeling
- lymphocytes
