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Vaccines
Special Issues
Protein- and Subunit-Based Vaccines
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Protein- and Subunit-Based Vaccines

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2024 | Viewed by 7863

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Marco Palma

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education (IGDORE), Torrevieja, Spain
Interests: phage-based vaccine; phage therapy; phage display; epitope identification; antibody screening; Staphylococcus aureus; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; fibrinogen-binding proteins; molecular mimicry in autoimmune diseases
Prof. Dr. Jorge Benavide

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Tecnologico de Monterrey, Institute for Obesity Research, Monterrey, Mexico
Interests: bioprocess engineering; industrial biotechnology; microbiology; enzyme technology; downstream processing; synthetic biology; drug discovery; nanoformulations; phage-display; vaccines; wound healing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Protein- or subunit-based vaccines comprise whole proteins or portions of them, such as epitopes, that have been specifically chosen for their capacity to stimulate an immune response. Traditional vaccines based on the whole pathogen have been effective in preventing many infectious diseases. However, traditional vaccines have some limitations regarding security issues as many of them need to be produced in high-level biosafety facilities, implying substantial manufacturing costs.

As an alternative, protein- and subunit-based vaccines can be produced using recombinant expression systems, focusing only on the specific portion of the pathogen that triggers the immune response. Full-length proteins can stimulate the production of antibodies against various epitopes, raising the risk of stimulating the production of non-specific cross-reactive antibodies. The selected immunogenic peptides contain epitopes associated with neutralizing antibodies that inhibit the pathogen and offer protection. Nevertheless, these protein subunits can be less immunogenic than conventional vaccination approaches. Therefore, they often need a substance or component that elicits a more potent humoral or cellular immune response. Different components have been used as adjuvants, and other approaches have been applied to deliver and present proteins and epitopes to the immune system.

This Special Issue focuses on protein- and subunit-based vaccines, including preclinical and clinical studies, alternative delivery and display approaches, formulation optimization, and production strategies.

Submissions of original articles, systematic reviews, short communications, and case reports are encouraged to be submitted. All manuscripts will follow standard journal peer review practices.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to this Special Issue.

Dr. Marco Palma
Prof. Dr. Jorge Benavide
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. 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

  • protein-based vaccine
  • subunit-based vaccine
  • epitope vaccine
  • peptide vaccine
  • phage-based vaccine
  • adjuvants
  • epitope-based vaccine
  • peptide-based vaccine
  • immunization
  • neutralizing antibodies

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 2435 KiB  
Article
Gag Virus-like Particles Functionalized with SARS-CoV-2 Variants: Generation, Characterization and Recognition by COVID-19 Convalescent Patients’ Sera
by Arnau Boix-Besora, Francesc Gòdia and Laura Cervera
Vaccines 2023, 11(11), 1641; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11111641 - 26 Oct 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1347
Abstract
The robustness, safety, versatility, and high immunogenicity of virus-like particles (VLPs) make them a promising approach for the generation of vaccines against a broad range of pathogens. VLPs are recombinant macromolecular structures that closely mimic the native conformation of viruses without carrying viral [...] Read more.
The robustness, safety, versatility, and high immunogenicity of virus-like particles (VLPs) make them a promising approach for the generation of vaccines against a broad range of pathogens. VLPs are recombinant macromolecular structures that closely mimic the native conformation of viruses without carrying viral genetic material. Particularly, HIV-1 Gag-based VLPs are a suitable platform for the presentation of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) protein on their surface. In this context, this work studies the effect of different rationally engineered mutations of the S protein to improve some of its characteristics. The studied variants harbored mutations such as proline substitutions for S stabilization, D614G from the early dominant pandemic form, the elimination of the S1/S2 furin cleavage site to improve S homogeneity, the suppression of a retention motif to favor its membrane localization, and cysteine substitutions to increase its immunogenicity and avoid potential undesired antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) effects. The influence of the mutations on VLP expression was studied, as well as their immunogenic potential, by testing the recognition of the generated VLP variants by COVID-19 convalescent patients’ sera. The results of this work are conceived to give insights on the selection of S protein candidates for their use as immunogens and to showcase the potential of VLPs as carriers for antigen presentation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Protein- and Subunit-Based Vaccines)
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15 pages, 3491 KiB  
Article
A Recombinant RBD-Based Phage Vaccine Report: A Solution to the Prevention of New Diseases?
by Zahra Salehi and Mohammad Javad Rasaee
Vaccines 2023, 11(4), 833; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11040833 - 13 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1844
Abstract
The safety, inherent immunogenicity, stability, and low-cost production of bacteriophages make them an ideal platform for vaccine development. Most vaccination strategies against COVID-19 have targeted the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 to generate neutralizing antibodies. P1, a truncated RBD-derived spike protein, has been shown [...] Read more.
The safety, inherent immunogenicity, stability, and low-cost production of bacteriophages make them an ideal platform for vaccine development. Most vaccination strategies against COVID-19 have targeted the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 to generate neutralizing antibodies. P1, a truncated RBD-derived spike protein, has been shown to induce virus-neutralizing antibodies in preclinical studies. In this study, we first investigated whether recombinant phages displaying P1 on the M13 major protein could immunize mice against COVID-19, and second, whether inoculation with 50 µg of purified P1 in addition to the recombinant phages would stimulate the immune systems of the animals. The results showed that the mice that received recombinant phages were immunized against the phage particles, but did not have anti-P1 IgG. In contrast, compared with the negative control, the group that received a combination of P1 protein and recombinant phage was immunized against the P1 protein. In both groups, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells appeared in the lung tissue. These results suggest that the number of antigens on the phage body plays a crucial role in stimulating the immune system against the bacteriophage, although it is immunogenic enough to function as a phage vaccine. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Protein- and Subunit-Based Vaccines)
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Review

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23 pages, 1067 KiB  
Review
Aspects of Phage-Based Vaccines for Protein and Epitope Immunization
by Marco Palma
Vaccines 2023, 11(2), 436; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11020436 - 14 Feb 2023
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4024
Abstract
Because vaccine development is a difficult process, this study reviews aspects of phages as vaccine delivery vehicles through a literature search. The results demonstrated that because phages have adjuvant properties and are safe for humans and animals, they are an excellent vaccine tool [...] Read more.
Because vaccine development is a difficult process, this study reviews aspects of phages as vaccine delivery vehicles through a literature search. The results demonstrated that because phages have adjuvant properties and are safe for humans and animals, they are an excellent vaccine tool for protein and epitope immunization. The phage genome can easily be manipulated to display antigens or create DNA vaccines. Additionally, they are easy to produce on a large scale, which lowers their manufacturing costs. They are stable under various conditions, which can facilitate their transport and storage. However, no medicine regulatory agency has yet authorized phage-based vaccines despite the considerable preclinical data confirming their benefits. The skeptical perspective of phages should be overcome because humans encounter bacteriophages in their environment all the time without suffering adverse effects. The lack of clinical trials, endotoxin contamination, phage composition, and long-term negative effects are some obstacles preventing the development of phage vaccines. However, their prospects should be promising because phages are safe in clinical trials; they have been authorized as a food additive to avoid food contamination and approved for emergency use in phage therapy against difficult-to-treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Therefore, this encourages the use of phages in vaccines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Protein- and Subunit-Based Vaccines)
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