Special Issue "Pre-existing Immunity Effects on Viral Infections and Vaccinations"

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Viral Immunology, Vaccines, and Antivirals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021).

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Elizabeth M. Anderson
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Interests: influenza; antibody responses; original antigenic sin; vaccine effectiveness; viral evolution; HIV persistence
Dr. Sigrid Gouma
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Interests: humoral immunity; serological surveillance; antigenic drift; original antigenic sin; influenza virus; SARS-CoV-2; mumps virus

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Virus exposure, through infection or vaccination, can elicit cellular and humoral immune responses. For many viruses, these immune responses are long-lasting. In the case of influenza viruses, pre-existing immunity can shape immune responses and susceptibility to antigenically drifted viral strains later in life. Cross-reactive pre-existing antibodies can exacerbate viral pathogenesis in some cases. For instance, prior exposure to dengue virus can result in antibody-dependent enhancement upon re-infection. The implications of pre-existing immunity to many viruses are not fully understood. For example, it is unknown how prior coronavirus infections impact SARS-CoV-2 immunity.

Pre-existing immunity can also interfere with vaccine immunogenicity. For instance, immunity against adenoviruses limits the widespread use of human adenovirus (Ad) vectors in vaccines and therapeutics. To overcome this, chimpanzee-derived adenovirus vectors (ChAd) and prime-boost strategies have been developed. Additionally, pre-existing antibodies as a result of transplacental transfer from mother to fetus can suppress infant responses to vaccination.

For this Special Issue of Viruses, we invite original research articles and reviews focusing on pre-existing immunity from prior virus exposure, the role of cross-reactive immune responses on viral pathogenesis, and vaccine approaches that circumvent pre-existing immunity.

Dr. Elizabeth Anderson
Dr. Sigrid Gouma
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 papers will be 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. Viruses 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.

Keywords

  • prior virus exposure
  • viral vaccines
  • original antigenic sin
  • adaptive immunity
  • repeat vaccination
  • antibody-dependent enhancement
  • influenza
  • flaviviruses
  • coronaviruses
  • cross-reactive immune responses

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
Zika Virus Antibody Titers Three Years after Confirmed Infection
Viruses 2021, 13(7), 1345; https://doi.org/10.3390/v13071345 - 12 Jul 2021
Viewed by 918
Abstract
Background: In 2015–2016, a large Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak occurred in the Americas. Although the exact ZIKV antibody kinetics after infection are unknown, recent evidence indicates the rapid waning of ZIKV antibodies in humans. Therefore, we aimed to determine the levels of ZIKV [...] Read more.
Background: In 2015–2016, a large Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak occurred in the Americas. Although the exact ZIKV antibody kinetics after infection are unknown, recent evidence indicates the rapid waning of ZIKV antibodies in humans. Therefore, we aimed to determine the levels of ZIKV antibodies more than three years after a ZIKV infection. Methods: We performed ZIKV virus neutralization tests (VNT) and a commercial ZIKV non-structural protein 1 (NS1) IgG ELISA in a cohort of 49 participants from Suriname who had a polymerase-chain-reaction-confirmed ZIKV infection more than three years ago. Furthermore, we determined the presence of antibodies against multiple dengue virus (DENV) antigens. Results: The ZIKV seroprevalence in this cohort, assessed with ZIKV VNT and ZIKV NS1 IgG ELISA, was 59.2% and 63.3%, respectively. There was, however, no correlation between these two tests. Furthermore, we did not find evidence of a potential negative influence of DENV immunity on ZIKV antibody titers. Conclusions: ZIKV seroprevalence, assessed with two commonly used serological tests, was lower than expected in this cohort of participants who had a confirmed previous ZIKV infection. This can have implications for future ZIKV seroprevalence studies and possibly for the duration of immunological protection after a ZIKV infection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pre-existing Immunity Effects on Viral Infections and Vaccinations)
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Article
Dynamics and Extent of Non-Structural Protein 1-Antibody Responses in Tick-Borne Encephalitis Vaccination Breakthroughs and Unvaccinated Patients
Viruses 2021, 13(6), 1007; https://doi.org/10.3390/v13061007 - 27 May 2021
Viewed by 766
Abstract
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) has a substantial impact on human public health in many parts of Europe and Asia. Effective inactivated purified whole-virus vaccines are in widespread use in TBE-endemic countries. Nevertheless, vaccination breakthroughs (VBTs) with manifest clinical disease do occur, and their specific [...] Read more.
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) has a substantial impact on human public health in many parts of Europe and Asia. Effective inactivated purified whole-virus vaccines are in widespread use in TBE-endemic countries. Nevertheless, vaccination breakthroughs (VBTs) with manifest clinical disease do occur, and their specific serodiagnosis was shown to be facilitated by the detection of antibodies to a non-structural protein (NS1) that is produced during virus replication. However, recent data have shown that NS1 is also present in the current inactivated vaccines, with the potential of inducing corresponding antibodies and obscuring a proper interpretation of NS1-antibody assays for diagnosing VBTs. In our study, we quantified anti-virion and anti-NS1 antibody responses after vaccination as well as after natural infection in TBE patients, both without and with a history of previous TBE vaccination (VBTs). We did not find significant levels of NS1-specific antibodies in serum samples from 48 vaccinees with a completed vaccination schedule. In contrast, all TBE patients mounted an anti-NS1 antibody response, irrespective of whether they were vaccinated or not. Neither the dynamics nor the extent of NS1-antibody formation differed significantly between the two cohorts, arguing against substantial NS1-specific priming and an anamnestic NS1-antibody response in VBTs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pre-existing Immunity Effects on Viral Infections and Vaccinations)
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Communication
Antibody Response to the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Subjects with Prior SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Viruses 2021, 13(3), 422; https://doi.org/10.3390/v13030422 - 05 Mar 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4910
Abstract
Although antibody levels progressively decrease following SARS-CoV-2 infection, the immune memory persists for months. Thus, individuals who naturally contracted SARS-CoV-2 are expected to develop a more rapid and sustained response to COVID-19 vaccines than naïve individuals. In this study, we analyzed the dynamics [...] Read more.
Although antibody levels progressively decrease following SARS-CoV-2 infection, the immune memory persists for months. Thus, individuals who naturally contracted SARS-CoV-2 are expected to develop a more rapid and sustained response to COVID-19 vaccines than naïve individuals. In this study, we analyzed the dynamics of the antibody response to the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in six healthcare workers who contracted SARS-CoV-2 in March 2020, in comparison to nine control subjects without a previous infection. The vaccine was well tolerated by both groups, with no significant difference in the frequency of vaccine-associated side effects, with the exception of local pain, which was more common in previously infected subjects. Overall, the titers of neutralizing antibodies were markedly higher in response to the vaccine than after natural infection. In all subjects with pre-existing immunity, a rapid increase in anti-spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) IgG antibodies and neutralizing antibody titers was observed one week after the first dose, which seemed to act as a booster. Notably, in previously infected individuals, neutralizing antibody titers 7 days after the first vaccine dose were not significantly different from those observed in naïve subjects 7 days after the second vaccine dose. These results suggest that, in previously infected people, a single dose of the vaccine might be sufficient to induce an effective response. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pre-existing Immunity Effects on Viral Infections and Vaccinations)
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