Pre-existing Immunity Effects on Viral Infections and Vaccinations

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 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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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 2600 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.