Rational vaccine design in times of emerging diseases: The critical choices of immunological correlates of protection, vaccine antigen and immunomodulation

Virgil Schijns*, Dragomira Majhen, Peter Van Der Ley, Aneesh Thakur, Artur Summerfield, Rita Berisio, Cristina Nativi, Alberto Fernández-Tejada, Carmen Álverez-Dominguez, Sveinbjörn Gizurarson, Alla Zamyatina, Antonio Molinaro, Camillo Rosano, Žiga Jakopin, Ihsan Gursel, Siobhán McClean

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

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Abstract

Vaccines are the most effective medical intervention due to their continual success in preventing infections and improving mortality worldwide. Early vaccines were developed empirically however, rational design of vaccines can allow us to optimise their efficacy, by tailoring the immune response. Establishing the immune correlates of protection greatly informs the rational design of vaccines. This facilitates the selection of the best vaccine antigens and the most appropriate vaccine adjuvant to generate optimal memory immune T cell and B cell responses. This review outlines the range of vaccine types that are currently authorised and those under development. We outline the optimal immunological correlates of protection that can be targeted. Finally we review approaches to rational antigen selection and rational vaccine adjuvant design. Harnessing current knowledge on protective immune responses in combination with critical vaccine components is imperative to the prevention of future life-threatening diseases.

Original languageEnglish
Article number501
JournalPharmaceutics
Volume13
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Apr 2021

Bibliographical note

unding text
Funding: This review was supported by Horizon 2020 EU COST Action CA16231 European Network of Vaccine Adjuvants.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Other keywords

  • Adjuvant
  • Antigen
  • Delivery system
  • Design
  • Immunization
  • Rational
  • Route
  • Vaccine

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