Advanced Research on Vaccine Development for Infectious Diseases

A special issue of Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817). This special issue belongs to the section "Vaccines and Therapeutic Developments".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 1322

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Interests: animal virus; vaccines; transboundary diseases

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Instituto de Virología e Innovaciones Tecnológicas, INTA-CONICET, Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Interests: applied veterinary immunology; vaccine efficacy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Vaccination stands among the most decisive public health interventions in human history. Such an achievement is not only due to vaccines applied to the human population but also to those developed for animal health. 

The most ancient records of prophylactic approaches for the immune prevention of infectious diseases are those related to the smallpox treatment in China and India between five and ten centuries ago. Following the same line, Jenner’s publications at the end of the 18th century, showing how experimental infections with cowpox may prevent or ameliorate further smallpox infections, could represent the onset of vaccinology as the science of vaccine development. 

Different milestones stand out along this long journey from those rather rudimentary but pioneering approaches to modern vaccines: the development of bacterial culture techniques, the ability to produce in vitro viruses in tissue cultures, and new strategies applied from the molecular biology and advanced chemistry perspectives. As a result, an enormous array of vaccination strategies emerged, significantly improving the sanitary situation at a global scale within the One Health perspective. 

This Special Issue will focus on original reports and reviews investigating the generation of novel vaccines against infectious agents and new approaches for evaluating vaccine-induced immune responses. Potential topics related to human and animal vaccinology include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Reverse genetics applied to vaccine development;
  • New antigen delivery strategies, including vectored and nucleic acid-based vaccines, nanoparticles and immunostimulant complexes; 
  • New adjuvants and immunostimulatory strategies;
  • Rationally designed live attenuated vaccines;
  • Systems immunology applied to vaccine development and evaluation.

Dr. Mariano Pérez-Filgueira
Dr. Alejandra Capozzo
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. Pathogens 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

  • recombinant vaccines
  • production platforms
  • protection
  • antigen delivery
  • adjuvants

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 2303 KiB  
Article
A Virus-like Particle-Based F4 Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Vaccine Is Inhibited by Maternally Derived Antibodies in Piglets but Generates Robust Responses in Sows
by Kara-Lee Aves, Priscila R. Guerra, Ana H. Fresno, Mauro M. S. Saraiva, Eric Cox, Poul J. Bækbo, Morten A. Nielsen, Adam F. Sander and John E. Olsen
Pathogens 2023, 12(12), 1388; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12121388 - 24 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1155
Abstract
F4-positive enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli is associated with diarrhea and poor growth outcomes in neonatal and newly weaned piglets and is thus a major economic and welfare burden in the swine industry. Vaccination of sows with F4 fimbriae protects against the neonatal disease via [...] Read more.
F4-positive enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli is associated with diarrhea and poor growth outcomes in neonatal and newly weaned piglets and is thus a major economic and welfare burden in the swine industry. Vaccination of sows with F4 fimbriae protects against the neonatal disease via passive transfer of maternal immunity. However, this strategy does not protect against infection post-weaning. Consequently, prevention and treatment methods in weaner pigs heavily rely on the use of antimicrobials. Therefore, in order to reduce antimicrobial consumption, more effective prophylactic alternatives are needed. In this study, we describe the development of a capsid virus-like particle (cVLP)-based vaccine targeting the major F4 fimbriae subunit and adhesion molecule, FaeG, and evaluate its immunogenicity in mice, piglets, and sows. cVLP-display significantly increased systemic and mucosal antibody responses towards the recombinant FaeG antigen in mice models. However, in piglets, the presence of anti-F4 maternally derived antibodies severely inhibited the induction of active humoral responses towards the FaeG antigen. This inhibition could not be overcome, even with the enhanced immunogenicity achieved via cVLP display. However, in sows, intramuscular vaccination with the FaeG.cVLP vaccine was able to generate robust IgG and IgA responses that were comparable with a commercial fimbriae-based vaccine, and which were effectively transferred to piglets via colostrum intake. These results demonstrate that cVLP display has the potential to improve the systemic humoral responses elicited against low-immunogenic antigens in pigs; however, this effect is dependent on the use of antigens, which are not the targets of pre-existing maternal immunity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research on Vaccine Development for Infectious Diseases)
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