Broadly Protective Anti-viral Vaccines

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2024 | Viewed by 3414

Special Issue Editor

Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Virology, Institute of Pathogen Biology and Immunology of College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Interests: influenza virus; coronavirus; vaccinology; adaptive immunity; universal vaccine; antigen modification; cross-reactive antibody; antibody affinity maturation; B and T cell epitope; nanoparticle vaccine
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the Special Issue “Broadly Protective Anti-viral Vaccines” will open in March 2023. This Special Issue will accept original articles on the preventive and therapeutic anti-viral universal vaccine research, including but not limited to structural vaccinology, vaccine immunology, broadly-protective antibodies, T-cell epitope-based vaccines, vaccination regimens, vaccine genetics, vaccine production processes, vaccine pharmacology, vaccine adjuvants, and so on. The submissions of research articles, reviews, and commentary pieces are welcomed.

Vaccination is an effective and economical approach to control the spread of viral diseases. Emerging viruses could escape from vaccination-elicited prevailing herd immunity by antigenic mutations, thereafter vaccine efficacy often wanes over time. Seasonal influenza and SARS-CoV-2 are the most prominent representatives of rapidly evolving respiratory viruses. In addition, there are still no effective prophylactic or therapeutic vaccines that have been approved for human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis C virus, and others. It necessitates the development of universal vaccines for conferring strong long-term cross-protection against these highly variable pathogens. In our Special Issue, we hope to include articles that will help us to address the relevant scientific questions.

Prof. Dr. Lei Deng
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. 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.

Keywords

  • universal vaccines
  • structure-based rational design
  • cross-protection
  • broadly neutralizing antibody
  • T-cell epitopes
  • preventative and therapeutic vaccines
  • adaptive immunology
  • highly variable virus

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 2358 KiB  
Article
Sequential Immunizations with Influenza Neuraminidase Protein Followed by Peptide Nanoclusters Induce Heterologous Protection
by Wen-Wen Song, Mu-Yang Wan, Jia-Yue She, Shi-Long Zhao, De-Jian Liu, Hai-Yan Chang and Lei Deng
Viruses 2024, 16(1), 77; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16010077 - 03 Jan 2024
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Abstract
Enhancing cross-protections against diverse influenza viruses is desired for influenza vaccinations. Neuraminidase (NA)-specific antibody responses have been found to independently correlate with a broader influenza protection spectrum. Here, we report a sequential immunization regimen that includes priming with NA protein followed by boosting [...] Read more.
Enhancing cross-protections against diverse influenza viruses is desired for influenza vaccinations. Neuraminidase (NA)-specific antibody responses have been found to independently correlate with a broader influenza protection spectrum. Here, we report a sequential immunization regimen that includes priming with NA protein followed by boosting with peptide nanoclusters, with which targeted enhancement of antibody responses in BALB/c mice to certain cross-protective B-cell epitopes of NA was achieved. The nanoclusters were fabricated via desolvation with absolute ethanol and were only composed of composite peptides. Unlike KLH conjugates, peptide nanoclusters would not induce influenza-unrelated immunity. We found that the incorporation of a hemagglutinin peptide of H2-d class II restriction into the composite peptides could be beneficial in enhancing the NA peptide-specific antibody response. Of note, boosters with N2 peptide nanoclusters induced stronger serum cross-reactivities to heterologous N2 and even heterosubtypic N7 and N9 than triple immunizations with the prototype recombinant tetrameric (rt) N2. The mouse challenge experiments with HK68 H3N2 also demonstrated the strong effectiveness of the peptide nanocluster boosters in conferring heterologous protection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Broadly Protective Anti-viral Vaccines)
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Review

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11 pages, 648 KiB  
Review
mRNA Vaccine Nanoplatforms and Innate Immunity
by Lai Wei, Chunhong Dong, Wandi Zhu and Bao-Zhong Wang
Viruses 2024, 16(1), 120; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16010120 - 14 Jan 2024
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Abstract
mRNA-based vaccine technology has been significantly developed and enhanced, particularly highlighted by the authorization of mRNA vaccines for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Various biomaterials are developed in nano-scales and applied as mRNA vaccine delivery platforms. However, how these mRNA nanoplatforms influence immune responses [...] Read more.
mRNA-based vaccine technology has been significantly developed and enhanced, particularly highlighted by the authorization of mRNA vaccines for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Various biomaterials are developed in nano-scales and applied as mRNA vaccine delivery platforms. However, how these mRNA nanoplatforms influence immune responses has not been thoroughly studied. Hence, we have reviewed the current understanding of various mRNA vaccine platforms. We discussed the possible pathways through which these platforms moderate the host’s innate immunity and contribute to the development of adaptive immunity. We shed light on their development in reducing biotoxicity and enhancing antigen delivery efficiency. Beyond the built-in adjuvanticity of mRNA vaccines, we propose that supplementary adjuvants may be required to fine-tune and precisely control innate immunity and subsequent adaptive immune responses. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Broadly Protective Anti-viral Vaccines)
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