About this Research Topic
The field of new generation vaccine development strategies against flavivirus is rapidly evolving, and several cutting-edge areas and trends are emerging. Here are some of the trends and cutting-edge areas in the new generation of vaccine development strategies against flavivirus:
This Research Topic, entitled “New Generation of vaccine development strategies against flavivirus: Advancing the Fight against Emerging Infectious Diseases” covers nucleic acid-based vaccines, structural vaccinology, bivalent or multivalent-protein vaccines, peptide-based vaccines, glycoconjugate-based vaccines and genetically modified microorganisms. Additionally, we also aim to investigate areas of interest such as novel adjuvants, nanotechnology, delivery systems, combination vaccines, alternative delivery routes, vaccine manufacturing technologies, and preclinical pharmacology.
We solicit Original Research, Brief Research Reports, Methods, Opinions, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Perspectives, and Hypothesis and Theory articles that focus on the following subthemes:
• Flavivirus and host immune interaction: Investigating the interactions between flavivirus and the host immune system is critical to developing effective vaccines. This subtopic will focus on the antigen development or design for subunit vaccines that can elicit robust immune responses against flavivirus.
• Novel Antigen Design: One trend in the development of new generation vaccines against flavivirus is the use of innovative approaches to antigen design. Exploring various strategies to design antigens that can elicit strong and durable immune responses against flavivirus is of interest. For example, researchers are using structural vaccinology to understand the molecular structure of flavivirus and design antigens that mimic the virus's shape and stimulate the immune system.
• Novel Adjuvants: The development of novel adjuvants is critical in improving vaccine efficacy against flavivirus. Researchers are exploring various approaches to develop novel adjuvants, including nanoparticle-based adjuvants, toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists, and cytokine-based adjuvants.
• Nucleic Acid-Based Vaccines: Nucleic acid-based vaccines, including DNA and RNA vaccines, have shown promise in preclinical studies. These vaccines have the potential to induce strong and long-lasting immune responses against flavivirus. Exploring various approaches to optimize the design of nucleic acid-based vaccines and improve their efficacy will provide a much needed discussion on this topic.
• Combination Vaccines: Combination vaccines that target multiple flaviviruses are emerging as a potential approach to combat flavivirus infections. These vaccines can provide broad protection against multiple flaviviruses and simplify the vaccination process.
• Alternative Delivery Routes: Exploration of alternative delivery routes for flavivirus vaccines, such as transcutaneous and intradermal delivery remains of interest and requires discussion on how to enhance the vaccine's efficacy and simplify the administration process.
• Manufacturing Technologies: The development of novel manufacturing technologies is critical in improving the availability and affordability of flavivirus vaccines. Diverse approaches, such as cell-based vaccine production and plant-based vaccine production, to optimize the manufacturing process and reduce the cost of vaccine production are highly needed.
• Preclinical pharmacology: Appropriate preclinical animal models, such as the mouse adaptive strain model, hamster challenge model, nonhuman primate model, human organoids, etc., are required to assess vaccine efficacy.
Keywords: flavivirus, virus-host Interaction, innate immune response, adaptive immune responses
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