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Vaccines
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The 10th Anniversary of Vaccines—Vaccines against Emerging and Tropical...
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The 10th Anniversary of Vaccines—Vaccines against Emerging and Tropical Infectious Diseases

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "Vaccines against Tropical and other Infectious Diseases".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 14113

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Nirbhay Kumar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
Interests: parasitic diseases; tropical medicine; malaria immunology and vaccinology; malaria–helminth immunobiology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In 2022, we will celebrate the 10th anniversary volume of the journal Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X), and we would be thrilled if you could join us on this wonderful occasion.

Vaccines is an international, peer-reviewed, quick-refereeing, open access journal published online by MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Vaccines is indexed by SCIE, PubMed (NLM), as well as others. The Impact Factor for this journal is 7.8, and it ranks Q1 in “Immunology” and “Medicine, Research & Experimental Pharmacology” in Web of Science. The inaugural issue was released in 2013, and in 2020, we published the 1000th paper in this journal. In 2021, we achieved our goal of publishing 1200 papers in one year. Vaccines is definitely a rapidly developing journal.

In recognition of this significant milestone, we are launching a Special Issue entitled “The 10th Anniversary of Vaccines—Vaccines against Emerging and Tropical Infectious Diseases”. This Special Issue will include high-quality papers on topics within the broad scope of Vaccines. We will consider manuscripts that investigate immunology and vaccinology against emerging and tropical infectious diseases,  immunological responses to vaccine targets, novel approaches for vaccine development, novel vaccine delivery platforms, novel immunomodulatory adjuvants, role of innate immunity, immune correlates of vaccine efficacy, and evaluation of vaccines using animal models and humans. It is our pleasure to invite you to contribute an original research paper or a comprehensive review article for peer review and possible publication in Vaccines.

Prof. Dr. Nirbhay Kumar
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. 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.

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 3268 KiB  
Article
Intramuscular Immunization with a Liposomal Multi-Epitope Chimeric Protein Induces Strong Cellular Immune Responses against Visceral Leishmaniasis
by Maria Agallou, Maritsa Margaroni and Evdokia Karagouni
Vaccines 2023, 11(8), 1384; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11081384 - 19 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1590
Abstract
Control of the intracellular parasite Leishmania (L.) requires the activation of strong type 1 cellular immune responses. Towards this goal, in the present study, a multiepitope chimeric protein named LiChimera was encapsulated into cationic liposomes and its protective efficacy against experimental [...] Read more.
Control of the intracellular parasite Leishmania (L.) requires the activation of strong type 1 cellular immune responses. Towards this goal, in the present study, a multiepitope chimeric protein named LiChimera was encapsulated into cationic liposomes and its protective efficacy against experimental visceral leishmaniasis was investigated. Liposomal LiChimera conferred significant protection against L. infantum as evidenced by the significantly reduced parasite loads in the spleen and liver. Protection detected in Lipo:LiChimera-immunized mice was dependent on the differentiation of long-lasting cellular immune responses and particularly the induction of antigen-specific multifunctional memory CD4+ TH1 and CD8+ T cells that persisted during infection, as evidenced by the persistent high production of IFN-γ and IL-2 and proliferation activity. Notably, protected mice were also characterized by significantly low numbers of non-regulatory CD4+ T cells able to co-produce IFN-γ and IL-10, an important population for disease establishment, as compared to non-immunized control group. Collectively, these results demonstrate that cationic liposomes containing LiChimera can be considered an effective candidate vaccine against visceral leishmaniasis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The 10th Anniversary of Vaccines—Vaccines against Emerging and Tropical Infectious Diseases)
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13 pages, 2909 KiB  
Article
Changing Ecotypes of Dengue Virus 2 Serotype in Nigeria and the Emergence of Cosmopolitan and Asian I Lineages, 1966–2019
by Bernard A. Onoja, Mamoudou Maiga, Ridwan O. Adesola, Andrew M. Adamu and Oyelola A. Adegboye
Vaccines 2023, 11(3), 547; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11030547 - 25 Feb 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2941
Abstract
Dengue virus (DENV) is a leading mosquito-borne virus with a wide geographical spread and a major public health concern. DENV serotype 1 (DENV-1) and serotype 2 (DENV-2) were first reported in Africa in 1964 in Ibadan, Nigeria. Although the burden of dengue is [...] Read more.
Dengue virus (DENV) is a leading mosquito-borne virus with a wide geographical spread and a major public health concern. DENV serotype 1 (DENV-1) and serotype 2 (DENV-2) were first reported in Africa in 1964 in Ibadan, Nigeria. Although the burden of dengue is unknown in many African countries, DENV-2 is responsible for major epidemics. In this study, we investigated the activities of DENV-2 to determine the circulating strains and to appraise the changing dynamics in the epidemiology of the virus in Nigeria. Nineteen DENV-2 sequences from 1966–2019 in Nigeria were retrieved from the GenBank of the National Center of Biotechnology Information (NCBI). A DENV genotyping tool was used to identify the specific genotypes. The evolutionary history procedure was performed on 54 DENV-2 sequences using MEGA 7. There is a deviation from Sylvatic DENV-2 to other genotypes in Nigeria. In 2019, the Asian I genotype of DENV-2 was predominant in southern Edo State, located in the tropical rainforest region, with the first report of the DENV-2 Cosmopolitan strain. We confirmed the circulation of other non-assigned genotypes of DENV-2 in Nigeria. Collectively, this shows that DENV-2 dynamics have changed from Sylvatic transmission reported in the 1960s with the identification of the Cosmopolitan strain and Asian lineages. Sustained surveillance, including vectorial studies, is required to fully establish the trend and determine the role of these vectors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The 10th Anniversary of Vaccines—Vaccines against Emerging and Tropical Infectious Diseases)
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18 pages, 2689 KiB  
Article
Effective Functional Immunogenicity of a DNA Vaccine Combination Delivered via In Vivo Electroporation Targeting Malaria Infection and Transmission
by Yi Cao, Clifford T. H. Hayashi, Fidel Zavala, Abhai K. Tripathi, Hayk Simonyan, Colin N. Young, Leor C. Clark, Yukari Usuda, Jacob M. Van Parys and Nirbhay Kumar
Vaccines 2022, 10(7), 1134; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10071134 - 16 Jul 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2693 | Correction
Abstract
Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein (PfCSP) and Pfs25 are leading candidates for the development of pre-erythrocytic and transmission-blocking vaccines (TBV), respectively. Although considerable progress has been made in developing PfCSP- and Pfs25-based vaccines, neither have elicited complete protection or transmission blocking in clinical trials. [...] Read more.
Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein (PfCSP) and Pfs25 are leading candidates for the development of pre-erythrocytic and transmission-blocking vaccines (TBV), respectively. Although considerable progress has been made in developing PfCSP- and Pfs25-based vaccines, neither have elicited complete protection or transmission blocking in clinical trials. The combination of antigens targeting various life stages is an alternative strategy to develop a more efficacious malaria vaccine. In this study, female and male mice were immunized with DNA plasmids encoding PfCSP and Pfs25, administered alone or in combination via intramuscular in vivo electroporation (EP). Antigen-specific antibodies were analyzed for antibody titers, avidity and isotype by ELISA. Immune protection against sporozoite challenge, using transgenic P. berghei expressing PfCSP and a GFP-luciferase fusion protein (PbPfCSP-GFP/Luc), was assessed by in vivo bioluminescence imaging and blood-stage parasite growth. Transmission reducing activity (TRA) was evaluated in standard membrane feeding assays (SMFA). High levels of PfCSP- and Pfs25-specific antibodies were induced in mice immunized with either DNA vaccine alone or in combination. No difference in antibody titer and avidity was observed for both PfCSP and Pfs25 between the single DNA and combined DNA immunization groups. When challenged by PbPfCSP-GFP/Luc sporozoites, mice immunized with PfCSP alone or combined with Pfs25 revealed significantly reduced liver-stage parasite loads as compared to mice immunized with Pfs25, used as a control. Furthermore, parasite liver loads were negatively correlated with PfCSP-specific antibody levels. When evaluating TRA, we found that immunization with Pfs25 alone or in combination with PfCSP elicited comparable significant transmission reduction. Our studies reveal that the combination of PfCSP and Pfs25 DNAs into a vaccine delivered by in vivo EP in mice does not compromise immunogenicity, infection protection and transmission reduction when compared to each DNA vaccine individually, and provide support for further evaluation of this DNA combination vaccine approach in larger animals and clinical trials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The 10th Anniversary of Vaccines—Vaccines against Emerging and Tropical Infectious Diseases)
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Review

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24 pages, 826 KiB  
Review
An Overview of Rift Valley Fever Vaccine Development Strategies
by Paul Kato Kitandwe, Paul F. McKay, Pontiano Kaleebu and Robin J. Shattock
Vaccines 2022, 10(11), 1794; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10111794 - 25 Oct 2022
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 5604
Abstract
Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a mosquito-borne viral zoonosis that causes high fetal and neonatal mortality in ruminants and a mild to fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans. There are no licensed RVF vaccines for human use while for livestock, commercially available vaccines are [...] Read more.
Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a mosquito-borne viral zoonosis that causes high fetal and neonatal mortality in ruminants and a mild to fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans. There are no licensed RVF vaccines for human use while for livestock, commercially available vaccines are all either live attenuated or inactivated and have undesirable characteristics. The live attenuated RVF vaccines are associated with teratogenicity and residual virulence in ruminants while the inactivated ones require multiple immunisations to induce and maintain protective immunity. Additionally, nearly all licensed RVF vaccines lack the differentiating infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA) property making them inappropriate for use in RVF nonendemic countries. To address these limitations, novel DIVA-compatible RVF vaccines with better safety and efficacy than the licensed ones are being developed, aided fundamentally by a better understanding of the molecular biology of the RVF virus and advancements in recombinant DNA technology. For some of these candidate RVF vaccines, sterilizing immunity has been demonstrated in the discovery/feasibility phase with minimal adverse effects. This review highlights the progress made to date in RVF vaccine research and development and discusses the outstanding research gaps. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The 10th Anniversary of Vaccines—Vaccines against Emerging and Tropical Infectious Diseases)
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