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Molecular Advances of Viral Immunology and Vaccine against Viruses
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Molecular Advances of Viral Immunology and Vaccine against Viruses

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Immunology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 8876

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Nikunj M. Shukla

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Moores Cancer Center, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
Interests: vaccines; adjuvants; virus; immunology; antibodies; T cells
Dr. Pilar Pérez Romero

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, 28220 Madrid, Spain
Interests: cytomegalovirus; CMV genome; T-cell immune response; neutralizing antibodies; vaccine design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Vaccines are an incredibly important preventive healthcare tool, as is evident from the current COVID-19 pandemic. Many vaccines have been found to be effective against viral diseases in the past and helped to eliminate diseases to a large extent, such as smallpox and polio, and others that have helped to mitigate the spread of diseases, as in hepatitis and rotavirus infection. There is still an emerging need for vaccines against rapidly mutating, highly contagious, or mosquito-borne viruses such as influenza, HIV, SARS-causing coronaviruses, Zika virus, etc. While we may have an understanding of virus structure and function, extensive research is still needed to understand the correlates of protection for vaccines, including antigen and protein epitope, vaccine adjuvants such as toll-like receptor agonists, adjuvant(s) with different mechanisms of action, and the combination of adjuvant systems. Protective responses against different viruses are achieved via the involvement of B and T cell-specific immune responses leading to biased or balanced Th1 and Th2 responses. Thus, understanding of the viral immunology at the molecular level will be useful in vaccine design.

This Special Issue aims to cover original and review articles on the discovery of viral antigens and adjuvants for vaccine as well as molecular mechanisms toward understanding of viral vaccinology.

Dr. Nikunj M. Shukla
Dr. Pilar Pérez Romero
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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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

  • vaccines
  • adjuvants
  • virus
  • immunology
  • antibodies
  • T cells

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 2902 KiB  
Article
The Immunogenicity of DENV1–4 ED3s Strongly Differ despite Their Almost Identical Three-Dimensional Structures and High Sequence Similarities
by Md. Din Islam, Tahmina Sharmin, Imrul Hasan Tipo, Antara Saha, Sanjida Yesmin, Moushumi Ghosh Roy, Subbaian Brindha, Yutaka Kuroda and M. Monirul Islam
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(3), 2393; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24032393 - 25 Jan 2023
Viewed by 2111
Abstract
The development of a dengue (DENV) vaccine remains challenging due to the heteroserotypic infection, which can result in a potentially deadly hemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome, and only a tetravalent vaccine can overcome this issue. Here, we report the immunogenicity of DENV [...] Read more.
The development of a dengue (DENV) vaccine remains challenging due to the heteroserotypic infection, which can result in a potentially deadly hemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome, and only a tetravalent vaccine can overcome this issue. Here, we report the immunogenicity of DENV envelope protein domain 3 (ED3) from all four DENV serotypes (DENV1–4) in Swiss albino and BALB/c mice models. Firstly, we observed that despite having very similar sequences and structures, both the humoral and cellular immunogenicity of ED3s varied significantly, with strength ranging from DENV2 ED3 (2ED3)~3ED3 > 1ED3 > 4ED3, which was assessed through anti-ED3 IgG titers, and DENV1 ED3 (1ED3) > 2ED3~3ED3 > 4ED3 as determined by monitoring T-cell memory (CD44+CD62L+ T cells with IL-4 and IFN-γ expression). Secondly, anti-1ED3 sera cross-reacted with 2ED3 and 3ED3; anti-2ED3 and anti-3ED3 sera cross-reacted with each other, but anti-4ED3 was completely serotype-specific. The lack of reciprocity of anti-1ED3’s cross-reaction was unanticipated. Such disparity in the ED3 responses and cross-reaction might underlie the appearance of hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. Hence, the development of an ED3-based tetravalent subunit vaccine would require understanding the aforementioned disparities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Advances of Viral Immunology and Vaccine against Viruses)
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16 pages, 2498 KiB  
Article
Saliva and Plasma Neutralizing Activity Induced by the Administration of a Third bnt162b2 Vaccine Dose
by Micaela Garziano, Olga Utyro, Sergio Strizzi, Claudia Vanetti, Irma Saulle, Chiara Conforti, Federica Cicilano, Francesco Ardizzone, Gioia Cappelletti, Mario Clerici, Fiona Limanaqi and Mara Biasin
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(22), 14341; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232214341 - 18 Nov 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1402
Abstract
The BNT162b2 vaccine induces neutralizing activity (NA) in serum, but no data are available on whether a third-dose activates specific-immunity within the oral mucosa, representing the primary route of viral-entry. To carefully address this issue, we investigated if such immunity is boosted by [...] Read more.
The BNT162b2 vaccine induces neutralizing activity (NA) in serum, but no data are available on whether a third-dose activates specific-immunity within the oral mucosa, representing the primary route of viral-entry. To carefully address this issue, we investigated if such immunity is boosted by SARS-CoV-2-infection; how long it is maintained over-time; and if it protects against the SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1 (EU) and the emerging Delta and Omicron variants. NA was measured in plasma and saliva samples from: uninfected SARS-CoV-2-Vaccinated (SV), subjects infected prior to vaccination (SIV), and subjects who were infected after the second (SIV2) or the third (SIV3) vaccine dose. Samples were collected immediately before (T0), 15 days (T1), and 90 days (T2) post third-dose administration (SV and SIV), or 15 days post-infection (SIV2 and SIV3). In all the enrolled groups, NA in plasma and saliva: (i) was higher against EU compared to the other variants at all time-points (SV: T0 and T1, EU vs. both Delta and Omicron p < 0.001; T2 p < 0.01) (SIV: T0, EU vs. Delta p < 0.05; EU vs. Omi p < 0.01; T1 and T2 EU vs. Delta p < 0.01; EU vs. Omi p < 0.001); (ii) was boosted by the administration of the third dose; iii) declined over-time, albeit being detectable in almost all subjects at T2. The monitoring of NA over time will be important in clarifying if different NA levels may influence either acquisition or course of infection to properly plan the timing of a fourth vaccine dose administration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Advances of Viral Immunology and Vaccine against Viruses)
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Review

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16 pages, 1459 KiB  
Review
mRNA Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2: Advantages and Caveats
by Miriam Echaide, Luisa Chocarro de Erauso, Ana Bocanegra, Ester Blanco, Grazyna Kochan and David Escors
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(6), 5944; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24065944 - 21 Mar 2023
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4768
Abstract
The application of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 infection has constituted a determinant resource to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the beginning of 2021, millions of doses have been administered in several countries of North and South America and Europe. Many studies [...] Read more.
The application of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 infection has constituted a determinant resource to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the beginning of 2021, millions of doses have been administered in several countries of North and South America and Europe. Many studies have confirmed the efficacy of these vaccines in a wide range of ages and in vulnerable groups of people against COVID-19. Nevertheless, the emergence and selection of new variants have led to a progressive decay in vaccine efficacy. Pfizer–BioNTech and Moderna developed updated bivalent vaccines—Comirnaty and Spikevax—to improve responses against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants. Frequent booster doses with monovalent or bivalent mRNA vaccines, the emergence of some rare but serious adverse events and the activation of T-helper 17 responses suggest the need for improved mRNA vaccine formulations or the use of other types of vaccines. In this review, we discuss the advantages and limitations of mRNA vaccines targeting SARS-CoV-2 focusing on the most recent, related publications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Advances of Viral Immunology and Vaccine against Viruses)
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