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Vaccines
Special Issues
Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)—Antigen Interactions in Vaccine Development
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Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)—Antigen Interactions in Vaccine Development

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "Pathogens-host Immune Interface".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 1551

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Apostolos P. Georgopoulos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Neuroscience, Brain Sciences Center, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
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 used to prevent illnesses caused by pathogens. Vaccines contain antigens of pathogens that induce the host to produce antibodies against them. The success of vaccines in prevention or therapy depends on the ability of the host to make antibodies against the vaccine antigen(s). In turn, this depends on host immunogenetics, i.e., the availability of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles that can form a complex with the antigen (or its fragments) to engage CD4+ T lymphocytes and then B cells for antibody formation. Thus, this antigen–HLA interaction is critical for the production of antibodies and success of the vaccine. This Special Issue centers on this association between vaccine antigens and HLA molecules that initiate antibody production. This journal welcomes original research articles and reviews on research areas focusing on antigen–HLA interactions in vaccine development and vaccine effectiveness. Research or review articles on the role of HLA in antigen presentation, antibody production, and vaccine effectiveness are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Apostolos P. Georgopoulos
Guest Editor

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

  • vaccine
  • antigen
  • antibody
  • adjuvant
  • HLA
  • binding affinity
  • lymphocytes
  • antigen presenting cells

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 2679 KiB  
Article
Negative Association of Gulf War Illness Symptomatology with Predicted Binding Affinity of Anthrax Vaccine Antigen to Human Leukocyte (HLA) Class II Molecules
by Lisa M. James and Apostolos P. Georgopoulos
Vaccines 2025, 13(1), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines13010088 - 18 Jan 2025
Viewed by 996
Abstract
Background: Anthrax is a serious disease caused by Bacillus anthracis (B. anthracis) with a very high mortality when the spores of B. anthracis are inhaled (inhalational anthrax). Aerosolized B. anthracis spores can be used as a deadly bioweapon. Vaccination against anthrax [...] Read more.
Background: Anthrax is a serious disease caused by Bacillus anthracis (B. anthracis) with a very high mortality when the spores of B. anthracis are inhaled (inhalational anthrax). Aerosolized B. anthracis spores can be used as a deadly bioweapon. Vaccination against anthrax is the only effective preventive measure and, hence, the anthrax vaccine was administered to United States (and other) troops during the 1990–91 Gulf War. However, the anthrax vaccine is not harmless, and the anthrax vaccination has been linked to the occurrence and severity of Gulf War Illness (GWI), a debilitating Chronic Multisymptom Illness (CMI). We hypothesized that this is partly due to the combination of two factors, namely (a) the cytotoxicity of the antigen (anthrax Protective Antigen, PA) contained in the vaccine, and (b) the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) genotype of susceptible vaccinees, reducing their ability to make antibodies against the cytotoxic PA. Method: Here, we tested this hypothesis by determining the association between severity of GWI symptoms in 458 GW veterans and the overall strength of the binding affinity of the PA epitopes to the specific six Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Class II alleles carried by each individual (two of each of the HLA-II genes: DPB1, DQB1, DRB1), responsible for initiating the process of antibody production in otherwise immunocompetent individuals, estimated in silico. Results: We found that the severity of GWI symptomatology was negatively and significantly correlated with the strength of the predicted binding affinity of PA peptides to HLA-II molecules (r=−0.356, p<0.001); the stronger the overall binding affinity, the weaker the symptoms. Since the binding of a peptide to an HLA-II molecule is the first and necessary step in initiating the production of antibodies, the findings above support our hypothesis that the severity of GWI symptomatology is partly due to a lack of HLA-II protection. Conclusions: Reduced HLA protection against the toxic anthrax vaccine may underlie GWI. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)—Antigen Interactions in Vaccine Development)
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