Special Issue "Vaccines and Emerging/Re-Emerging Virus Diseases"

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 1758

Special Issue Editor

Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety Laboratories, National Institute for Infectious Diseases “Lazzaro Spallanzani” IRCCS, Via Portuense 292, 00149 Rome, Italy
Interests: poxvirus; flavivirus; vruses in the family filoviridae; arenavirus; hepatitis e virus; coronavirus; orthomyxovirus; bunyavirus

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past decade, an alarming number of infectious viruses have emerged or re-emerged, presenting great threats to global health and to the economy worldwide. Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic fevers, Lassa fever, Dengue fever, Yellow fever, West Nile fever, Zika, Poxvirus; Flavivirus; Arenavirus; Hepatitis E Virus; Orthomyxovirus; Bunyavirus and Chikungunya vector-borne diseases, Swine flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), avian influenza viruses, and the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are examples of zoonoses that have spread throughout the globe with such a significant impact on public health that the scientific community has been called for a rapid intervention in preventing and treating emerging infections. Vaccination is probably the most effective tool in helping the immune system to activate protective responses against pathogens, reducing morbidity and mortality, as proven by historical records. Under health emergency conditions, new and alternative approaches in vaccine design and development are imperative for a rapid and massive vaccination coverage, to manage a disease outbreak and curtail epidemic spread. This issue offers an update on current vaccination strategies for some emerging/re-emerging viruses and discusses challenges and hurdles to overcome for developing efficacious vaccines against viral diseases.

Dr. Daniele Lapa
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 2200 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.

Published Papers (1 paper)

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

Research

Article
An Immunoinformatics Approach to Design a Potent Multi-Epitope Vaccine against Asia-1 Genotype of Crimean–Congo Haemorrhagic Fever Virus Using the Structural Glycoproteins as a Target
Vaccines 2023, 11(1), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11010061 - 27 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1552
Abstract
Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), caused by Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), is a disease of worldwide importance (endemic yet not limited to Asia, Middle East, and Africa) and has triggered several outbreaks amounting to a case fatality rate of 10–40% as per the [...] Read more.
Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), caused by Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), is a disease of worldwide importance (endemic yet not limited to Asia, Middle East, and Africa) and has triggered several outbreaks amounting to a case fatality rate of 10–40% as per the World Health Organization. Genetic diversity and phylogenetic data revealed that the Asia-1 genotype of CCHFV remained dominant in Pakistan, where 688 confirmed cases were reported between the 2012–2022 period. Currently, no approved vaccine is available to tackle the viral infection. Epitope-based vaccine design has gained significant attention in recent years due to its safety, timeliness, and cost efficiency compared to conventional vaccines. In the present study, we employed a robust immunoinformatics-based approach targeting the structural glycoproteins G1 and G2 of CCHFV (Asia-1 genotype) to design a multi-epitope vaccine construct. Five B-cells and six cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) epitopes were mapped and finalized from G1 and G2 and were fused with suitable linkers (EAAAK, GGGS, AAY, and GPGPG), a PADRE sequence (13 aa), and an adjuvant (50S ribosomal protein L7/L12) to formulate a chimeric vaccine construct. The selected CTL epitopes showed high affinity and stable binding with the binding groove of common human HLA class I molecules (HLA-A*02:01 and HLA-B*44:02) and mouse major histocompatibility complex class I molecules. The chimeric vaccine was predicted to be an antigenic, non-allergenic, and soluble molecule with a suitable physicochemical profile. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation indicated a stable and energetically favourable interaction between the constructed antigen and Toll-like receptors (TLR2, TLR3, and TLR4). Our results demonstrated that innate, adaptive, and humoral immune responses could be elicited upon administration of such a potent muti-epitope vaccine construct. These results could be helpful for an experimental vaccinologist to develop an effective vaccine against the Asia-1 genotype of CCHFV. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccines and Emerging/Re-Emerging Virus Diseases)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop