Next Generation Vaccines for Infectious Diseases
1University of Georgia, Athens, USA
2Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
3Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
Next Generation Vaccines for Infectious Diseases
Description
Vaccination is one, if not the most, effective approach for controlling the spread of infectious diseases. Depending on the pathogen, a number of strategies have been utilized for developing a vaccine capable of eliciting protective immunity. A historically common vaccine strategy was to inactivate, chemically or thermally, the pathogen in order to elicit an immune response against its components while avoiding the adverse effects of infection. Over the last several decades, a number of more sophisticated vaccine strategies have been developed. As an example, the advent of recombinant protein technology has enabled the development of subunit vaccines that focus the immune response towards specific components of the pathogen. In this regard, the HBsAg-based hepatitis B virus (HBV), the human papillomavirus (HPV), and the serogroup B meningococcal vaccines represent prototypes of this new generation of protein-based immunogens that are now used in clinical practice.
The purpose of this special issue is to publish high-quality research papers and review articles that highlight new as well as under-development vaccine approaches for infectious diseases. Original, high-quality contributions that are not yet published or that are not under review by other journals or peer-reviewed conferences will be evaluated.
Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
- Recombinant vaccines
- Viral vector-based vaccines
- DNA vaccines
- Reverse vaccinology
- Improved vaccine delivery methods
- Veterinary vaccines
- Immunological markers and correlates of vaccine-induced protection
- Evaluation of immunogenicity and efficacy of candidate vaccine adjuvants