Current Status Of Vaccine Development Research Articles

Current Status of Vaccine Development for Monkeypox Virus.

Monkeypox virus (MPXV) of poxviridae family causes a zoonotic disease called monkeypox (Mpox). MPXV cases have a fatality ratio ranging from 0 to 11% globally and have been more prevalent in children. There are three generations of smallpox vaccines that protect against MPXV. First and second generation of the vaccinia virus (VACV) vaccine protects MPXV. However, various adverse side effects were associated with the first and second generations of vaccines. In contrast, the Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavarian Nordic (MVA-BN) replication-incompetent vaccine shows fewer adverse effects and a significant amount of neutralizing antibodies in mammalian cells. A third-generation Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavarian Nordic (MVA-BN) was approved to prevent Mpox in 2019. Recently, MVA-BN-based Imvanex, Imvamune, and JYNNEOS vaccines have also been administered against MPXV. Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency in May 2022 due to increased MPXV cases. Various computational studies have also designed a multi-epitope-based vaccine against the MPXV. In the multi-epitope-based vaccine, different epitopes like B-cell, Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte (CTL), CD8+, and CD4+ epitopes were derived from MPXV proteins. Further, these epitopes were linked with the help of various linkers to design a multi-epitope vaccine against MPXV. In summary, we have provided an overview of the current status of the vaccine against MPXV.

34.1 VIROLOGY OF COVID-19, VACCINE DEVELOPMENT, AND EVOLUTION

COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, was first identified in late 2019 and rapidly spread, leading to a global pandemic. While efforts at mitigation and treatment are being implemented to reduce disease transmission and impact, these efforts are not complete without safe and effective vaccines introduced through global vaccination programs. Children represent a population in which vaccine development has been lacking to date, but for whom a vaccine for COVID-19 is necessary. An understanding of COVID-19 vaccination is necessary for child and adolescent psychiatrists to stay abreast of the current status of vaccine development and how it pertains to children’s health.

Development of mRNA Vaccines: Scientific and Regulatory Issues.

The global research and development of mRNA vaccines have been prodigious over the past decade, and the work in this field has been stimulated by the urgent need for rapid development of vaccines in response to an emergent disease such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, there remain gaps in our understanding of the mechanism of action of mRNA vaccines, as well as their long-term performance in areas such as safety and efficacy. This paper reviews the technologies and processes used for developing mRNA prophylactic vaccines, the current status of vaccine development, and discusses the immune responses induced by mRNA vaccines. It also discusses important issues with regard to the evaluation of mRNA vaccines from regulatory perspectives. Setting global norms and standards for biologicals including vaccines to assure their quality, safety and efficacy has been a WHO mandate and a core function for more than 70 years. New initiatives are ongoing at WHO to arrive at a broad consensus to formulate international guidance on the manufacture and quality control, as well as nonclinical and clinical evaluation of mRNA vaccines, which is deemed necessary to facilitate international convergence of manufacturing and regulatory practices and provide support to National Regulatory Authorities in WHO member states.

Realization of humoral immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infections

Abstract The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a major ongoing challenge to global health. After being infected by SARS-CoV-2, a specific humoral immune response may be rapidly induced in the host to restrain the viral infection via the production of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs), which are also useful for preventing reinfection [ 1 , 2 ]. However, there is a lack of comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms underlying SARS-CoV-2 specific humoral immunity and alterations in immunoglobulin M (IgM) and G (IgG) levels in humans during viral infection. In this perspective, we have summarized several characteristics of the humoral immune response against SARS-CoV-2 infection and its potentially critical role in vaccine development. Additionally, we have discussed the antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) phenomenon in antibody immunotherapy, the current status of vaccine development, and public health strategies aimed at ending the global COVID-19 pandemic. Since the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 was reported as the causative agent of COVID-19 in December 2019, the subsequent spread of SARS-CoV-2 has led to the COVID-19 pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 continues to considerably impact human health and life expectancy and endangers the global economy and socio-economic stability. The gold standard technique used to confirm early SARS-CoV-2 infection is reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based viral nucleic acid testing. However, previous studies conducted by our colleagues and other researchers indicate that virus-specific antibody detection for COVID-19 may be used as a complement to viral RNA detection for the diagnosis of suspected cases with negative RT-PCR results and/or for surveying asymptomatic infection in close contacts [3] . For theemerging virus, the characteristics and specific detailed mechanisms of how protective humoral immunity is developed in COVID-19 patients are not clearly defined. Herein, we compared the characterization of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody responses in the COVID-19 patients conducted in different studies worldwide and further discussed the critical roles of specific anti-viral humoral immunity in virus clearance and vaccine development.

Current advances in the development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is now a global pandemic that has wreaked havoc globally, which has put a heavy toll on public health, lives, and the world economy. Vaccination is considered as one of the greatest successes in medical history. Based on prior experience with the development of SARS-CoV vaccines, all COVID-19 vaccines must be subjected to the tests for protective effects and harmful risks derived from antibody-dependent enhancement that may contribute to augmented infectivity and/or eosinophilic infiltration. The SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is now being developed urgently in several different ways. China is regarded as one of the world's leading countries in SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development, up to date the last inactivated vaccine international clinical (Phase III) trial was launched in the United Arab Emirates by Sinopharm China National Biotec Group (CNBG). In this review, we outline the current status of vaccine development against clinically relevant SARS-CoV-2 strains, anticipating that such attempts would help create efficacious and sage SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

Overview of an Emerging Coronavirus Infection, COVID-19: Current Status of Vaccine Development and Therapeutics

Coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) first reported in Wuhan, China, causes serious respiratory illnesses such as lung failure and pneumonia. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) the pathogenic agent of COVID-19 has been confirmed as a novel coronavirus. WHO announced COVID-19 a global pandemic and now the whole world is eagerly waiting for vaccines and therapeutic treatment to get rid of this unstoppable coronavirus. As COVID-19 infection, a global threat creates unwanted human casualties and serious economic loss. To stop the ongoing uncontrolled situation researchers are racing to develop prevention and treatment strategies. Vaccines of different countries are in clinical and preclinical trials and the repurposed-drugs are providing to find out a positive result against COVID-19. The report is an analysis of published information focusing on treatment options including vaccination, drug-therapy, cytokines, therapeutic antibodies. Most of the vaccine’s development strategies and drugs target the surface structural spike glycoprotein or S-protein, the major inducer of pathogenic responses. Here, it is reviewed the features of SARS-CoV-2 and the global current status of therapeutic, and vaccine development for the prevention and effective treatment of COVID-19.

Livestock and Poultry Production in Nepal and Current Status of Vaccine Development.

The livestock and poultry sectors are an integral part of Nepalese economy and lifestyle. Livestock and poultry populations have continuously been increasing in the last decade in Nepal and are likely to follow that trend as the interests in this field is growing. Infectious diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), hemorrhagic septicemia (HS), black quarter (BQ), swine fever, avian influenza, and Newcastle disease (ND) constitute one of the major health challenges to the Nepalese livestock and poultry industry. Vaccinations are an efficient means of preventing the occurrence and spread of several diseases in animals and birds. Considering this fact, the government of Nepal began the production of veterinary vaccines in the 1960s. Nepal is self-reliant in producing several vaccines for cattle and buffaloes, sheep and goats, pigs, and poultry. Despite these efforts, the demand for vaccines is not met, especially in the commercial poultry sector, as Nepal spends billions of rupees in vaccine imports each year. There is a need of strengthening laboratory facilities for the isolation and characterization of field strains of pathogens and capacity building for the production of different types of vaccines using the latest technologies to be self-reliant in veterinary vaccine production in the future in Nepal.

Current Status of Potential Vaccine against COVID-19: Review

From many years, different viruses such as SARS-CoV2 have been a genuine threat to the world that wiped away thousands to millions people from the earth. Since the advent of viral diseases, vaccines have been proved as the ultimate solution to eradicate or prevent them from spreading to the larger population. Although it takes many of years to develop a potential vaccine, it is more effective in reducing viral spread. After the outbreak of SARS-CoV2, scientists around the globe are struggling to develop vaccines to stop its spread and help the people who are seriously ill. In this paper, we have evaluated current status of vaccine development to treat the virus under study.

Development of vaccines against the sexually transmitted infections gonorrhoea, syphilis, Chlamydia, herpes simplex virus, human immunodeficiency virus and Zika virus.

The success in preventing hepatitis B virus and human papillomavirus infections by means of vaccination paves the way for the development of other vaccines to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as gonorrhoea, syphilis, chlamydia, herpes simplex virus, human immunodeficiency virus and Zika virus. The current status of vaccine development for these infections will be explored in this review.The general principles for success include the need for prevention of latency, persistence and repeat infections. A reduction in transmission of STIs would reduce the global burden of disease. Therapeutic activity of vaccines against STIs would be advantageous over preventative activity alone, and prevention of congenital and neonatal infections would be an added benefit. There would be an added value in the prevention of long-term consequences of STIs. It may be possible to re-purpose ‘old’ vaccines for new indications. One of the major challenges is the determination of the target populations for STI vaccination.

Development of vaccines against gonorrhoea, syphilis, chlamydia, herpes simplex virus, human immunodeficiency virus and Zika virus

The success in preventing hepatitis B virus and human papillomavirus infections by means of vaccination paves the way for the development of other vaccines to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as gonorrhoea, syphilis, chlamydia, herpes simplex virus, human immunodeficiency virus and Zika virus. The current status of vaccine development for these infections will be explored in this review.

Status of research and development of vaccines for chikungunya

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arthritogenic alphavirus that during the last decade has significantly expanded its geographical range and caused large outbreaks of human disease around the world. Although mortality rates associated with CHIKV outbreaks are low, acute and chronic illnesses caused by CHIKV represent a significant burden of disease largely affecting low and middle income countries. This report summarizes the current status of vaccine development for CHIKV.

Vaccines and diagnostics for zoonotic schistosomiasis japonica.

Schistosomiasis is one of the most prevalent, insidious and serious of the tropical parasitic diseases. Although the effective anthelmintic drug, praziquantel, is widely available and cheap, it does not protect against re-infection, drug-resistant schistosome may evolve and mass drug administration programmes based around praziquantel are probably unsustainable long term. Whereas protective anti-schistosome vaccines are not yet available, the zoonotic nature of Schistosoma japonicum provides a novel approach for developing a transmission-blocking veterinary vaccine in domestic animals, especially bovines, which are major reservoir hosts, being responsible for up to 90% of environmental egg contamination in China and the Philippines. However, a greater knowledge of schistosome immunology is required to understand the processes associated with anti-schistosome protective immunity and to reinforce the rationale for vaccine development against schistosomiasis japonica. Importantly as well, improved diagnostic tests, with high specificity and sensitivity, which are simple, rapid and able to diagnose light S. japonicum infections, are required to determine the extent of transmission interruption and the complete elimination of schistosomiasis following control efforts. This article discusses aspects of the host immune response in schistosomiasis, the current status of vaccine development against S. japonicum and reviews approaches for diagnosing and detecting schistosome infections in mammalian hosts.

Current status of vaccine development for tularemia preparedness

Tularemia is a high-risk infectious disease caused by Gram-negative bacterium Francisella tularensis. Due to its high fatality at very low colony-forming units (less than 10), F. tularensis is considered as a powerful potential bioterrorism agent. Vaccine could be the most efficient way to prevent the citizen from infection of F. tularensis when the bioterrorism happens, but officially approved vaccine with both efficacy and safety is not developed yet. Research for the development of tularemia vaccine has been focusing on the live attenuated vaccine strain (LVS) for long history, still there are no LVS confirmed for the safety which should be an essential factor for general vaccination program. Furthermore the LVS did not show protection efficacy against high-risk subspecies tularensis (type A) as high as the level against subspecies holarctica (type B) in human. Though the subunit or recombinant vaccine candidates have been considered for better safety, any results did not show better prevention efficacy than the LVS candidate against F. tularensis infection. Currently there are some more trials to develop vaccine using mutant strains or nonpathogenic F. novicida strain, but it did not reveal effective candidates overwhelming the LVS either. Difference in the protection efficacy of LVS against type A strain in human and the low level protection of many subunit or recombinant vaccine candidates lead the scientists to consider the live vaccine development using type A strain could be ultimate answer for the tularemia vaccine development.

Pathogenesis and Treatment of Hepatitis E Virus Infection

Hepatitis E has been considered to be a travel-associated, acute, self-limiting liver disease that causes fulminant hepatic failure in specific high-risk groups only. However, hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection can also be acquired in industrialized countries-HEV genotype 3 infection is a zoonosis, with pigs and rodents serving as animal reservoirs. In recent years, cases of chronic HEV infection that were associated with progressive liver disease have been described in several cohorts of immunocompromised individuals, including recipients of organ transplants. The topic of hepatitis E is therefore re-emerging and has raised the following important questions: what is the risk for HEV infection in Western countries (eg, from eating uncooked meat)? How frequently does chronic hepatitis E develop among human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients and recipients of organ transplants? What are the treatment options? What is the current status of vaccine development? What do we know about the pathogenesis of HEV infection, and why does it have a more severe course in pregnant women? This review summarizes the current knowledge on the pathogenesis and treatment of HEV infection.

Jembrana Disease Virus: Host Responses, Viral Dynamics and Disease Control

Jembrana disease virus (JDV) is the most recently discovered member of the lentivirus family and causes an acute clinical disease in Bali cattle with a fatality rate of approximately 15%. It is genetically related to bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) to the extent that infections cannot yet be differentially diagnosed using serological assays due to cross-reacting epitopes. Despite their close genetic relationship the pathogenesis of JDV infection in Bali cattle is very different to that of BIV in cattle and is unusual for a member of this virus family. The dynamics of JDV replication and clearance during the acute stage of Jembrana disease, the viral tropism, molecular analysis of the viral genome and mRNA transcripts, and the current status of vaccine development and diagnostic assays are all reviewed to provide a greater understanding of the factors that make JDV such an unusual lentivirus.

Leishmaniasis: Current Treatment and Prospects for New Drugs and Vaccines

Leishmaniasis is a disease that ranges in severity from skin lesions to serious disfigurement and fatal systemic infection. WHO estimates that the disease results in 2 million new cases a year, threatens 350 million people in 88 countries and that there are 12 million people currently infected worldwide. Current treatment is based on chemotherapy, which relies on a handful of drugs with serious limitations such as high cost, toxicity, difficult route of administration and lack of efficacy in endemic areas. Pentavalent antimonials have been the mainstay of antileishmanial therapy for over 70 years with second line drugs, Amphotericin B and Pentamidine, used in case of antimonial failure. Since the introduction of miltefosine at the beginning of this century, no new antileishmanial compounds have been approved for human treatment. Leishmaniasis is considered one of a few parasitic diseases likely to be controllable by vaccination. However, to date no such vaccine is available despite substantial efforts by many laboratories. The development of a safe, effective and affordable antileishmanial vaccine is a critical global public-health priority. This review outlines the current status of vaccine development and looks at the currently available chemotherapy as well as examples of drugs in development and different approaches to antileishmanial drug discovery and identification of novel antiparasitic compounds.

Substance Abuse Vaccines

Conventional substance-abuse treatments have only had limited success for drugs such as cocaine, nicotine, methamphetamine, and phencyclidine. New approaches, including vaccination to block the effects of these drugs on the brain, are in advanced stages of development. Although several potential mechanisms for the effects of antidrug vaccines have been suggested, the most straightforward and intuitive mechanism involves binding of the drug by antibodies in the bloodstream, thereby blocking entry and/or reducing the rate of entry of the drug into the central nervous system. The benefits of such antibodies on drug pharmacodynamics will be influenced by both the quantitative and the qualitative properties of the antibodies. The sum of these effects will determine the success of the clinical applications of antidrug vaccines in addiction medicine. This review will discuss these issues and present the current status of vaccine development for nicotine, cocaine, methamphetamine, phencyclidine, and morphine.

Shigellosis: the current status of vaccine development

Shigellosis, a major form of bacillary dysentery, is caused by infection with Shigella organisms. In poor countries, Shigella-caused dysentery is endemic and causes an estimated 163 million illness episodes annually and more than one million deaths. Although several strategies have been used to develop vaccines targeting shigellosis, none has been licensed for use outside China. Owing to the wide range of Shigella serotypes and subtypes, there is a need for a multivalent vaccine representing prevalent species and serotypes. Vaccine development has been limited by the lack of a suitable animal model for vaccine testing. This review discusses the most advanced strategies for Shigella vaccine development including live attenuated, conjugate, broad spectrum, and proteosome-based vaccines and describes current animal models under study. The greatest barrier to the use of vaccine against shigellosis in developing areas is poor immune responses to oral vaccines in children who have minimal maternal antibodies. Clinical studies of promising shigellosis vaccine candidates are urgently needed after confirmation of safety, immunogenicity, and protection in volunteer challenge models.

Scientific barriers to developing vaccines against avian influenza viruses

The increasing number of reports of direct transmission of avian influenza viruses to humans underscores the need for control strategies to prevent an influenza pandemic. Vaccination is the key strategy to prevent severe illness and death from pandemic influenza. Despite long-term experience with vaccines against human influenza viruses, researchers face several additional challenges in developing human vaccines against avian influenza viruses. In this Review, we discuss the features of avian influenza viruses, the gaps in our understanding of infections caused by these viruses in humans and of the immune response to them that distinguishes them from human influenza viruses, and the current status of vaccine development.

SARS: How a global epidemic was stopped

The concern about emerging infectious diseases has been greatly increasing recently, especially with a rising threat of terrorism. There have been consecutive threats of emerging infectious diseases and periodical outbreaks of infectious diseases throughout the history. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) appeared as the first emerging and readily transmissible disease. At the same time, it was regarded as the first successfully controlled disease and showed that international collaboration is required to stop the spread. Last year, there was another threat of potential pandemic influenza, originating from avian influenza. Tension of bioterrorism has been increasing since the occurrence of anthrax terror in 2001. Preparedness is very emphasized because we do not know when or where and how emerging or reemerging infectious diseases will appear. This book is timely published at the time we stress the need for preparedness and it could be the cornerstone of preparedness. This book provides an overview of the SARS outbreak, microbiology of SARS virus, and clinical features of SARS. This book is not just a scientific publication, but also a kind of history book. This book is largely divided into two parts. The first part, the first three chapters, is designated for the history of SARS: it describes the global occurrence of SARS chronologically in detail and the global response. The spread of SARS and the response are reviewed country by country. This book contains unreported materials on how the disease started to spread in China, how it reached Hong Kong and what precisely happened at the Metropole Hotel. Readers can get information how SARS was transmitted from a patient to others including health care workers, from a hospital to hospitals and communities, and from one country to other countries on a timeline. The book also details how people reacted to SARS, how international researchers and officials worked collaboratively, how helpful Internet was in real-time sharing of information, and how the outbreak of SARS was controlled eventually. The distinguishing outbreaks, such as the outbreak at the Metropole Hotel or Amoy Gardens and through Flight CA112, are described separately. Readers can identify the successes and failures of the fight against SARS while reading the first part, and could be better prepared for future infectious diseases. The second part includes the science of SARS. Clinical features are extensively described based on all the published literature. Sporadic cases of SARS have been reported after the containment of SARS outbreak in 2003. A high index of suspicion is essential for the early diagnosis of SARS and prevention of outbreak, and the book provides enough information for clinical suspicion. The overview of the causative agent, SARS coronavirus, is provided in addition to a review of the microbiology of coronavirus. Owing to international cooperation of experts, the identification of the causative agent was possible within weeks from the outbreak. Furthermore, genetic analysis and laboratory diagnosis of SARS were accomplished in a short time. The capabilities and limitations of various methods of laboratory diagnostics of SARS and the current status of vaccine development are reviewed in detail. The hypothesis that SARS virus was transferred from animals to humans is summarized briefly, and this issue is still important in the prevention of reemergence of SARS and emergence of new diseases. The last part of this book is for the future preparedness, discussing the lessons learned from the SARS outbreak. Additionally, the extensive bibliography throughout this book would provide invaluable information for further interests. This book will serve an organized overview not only for health specialists or epidemiologists, but for anyone who wants to be better prepared for similar challenges of emerging infectious diseases in the future. In the past, the spread of new infectious diseases progressed gradually since people travelled by ships. However, SARS showed that new disease could spread globally through international flights within a matter of weeks. Avian influenza could easily progress to be pandemic if we are not better prepared than we were when SARS was unleashed. Preparedness is a hot issue and this book would be a basis of preparedness alert originating from the experience of SARS.