Abstract
The conventional approach to vaccine development is based on dissection of the pathogen using biochemical, immunological and microbiological methods. Although successful in several cases, this approach has failed to provide a solution to prevent several major bacterial infections. The availability of complete genome sequences in combination with novel advanced technologies, such as bioinformatics, microarrays and proteomics, have revolutionized the approach to vaccine development and provided a new impulse to microbial research. The genomic revolution allows the design of vaccines starting from the prediction of all antigens in silico, independently of their abundance and without the need to grow the pathogen in vitro. This new genome-based approach, which we have named "Reverse Vaccinology", has been successfully applied for Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B for which conventional strategies have failed to provide an efficacious vaccine. The concept of "Reverse Vaccinology" can be easily applied to all the pathogens for which vaccines are not yet available and can be extended to parasites and viruses.
Highlights
Since its introduction 200 years ago, vaccination has prevented illness and death for millions of individuals every year
Proteomics in vaccine design With the availability of genomic sequences, the progress achieved in 2D-gel electrophoresis separation techniques and advances in mass spectrometry analysis means that it is possible to separate, identify and catalogue the proteins expressed in a cell under several conditions
Many of the antigens identified in meningitidis serogroup B (MenB) share homology with known virulence factors and here we describe the characterisation of several of the antigens identified, from the biochemical and functional point of view
Summary
Since its introduction 200 years ago, vaccination has prevented illness and death for millions of individuals every year. Two significant examples are the recombinant vaccine against Hepatitis B virus, based on highly purified envelope protein All these conventional approaches to produce vaccines are based on the cultivation of the microorganism in laboratory conditions from which single components are isolated individually by using biochemical, microbiological and serological methods. The proteins that are most abundant and purified are not necessarily protective antigens and, in any case, only a few molecules can be isolated and tested simultaneously This method can employ many years to identify a protective and useful antigen, and has failed to provide a vaccine against those pathogens that did not have obvious immunodominant protective antigens (i.e. capsule or toxins). The genome sequences represent an inclusive virtual catalogue of all the potential vaccine candidates from which it is possible
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