ImmunoTargets and Therapy (Feb 2020)
Immunoinformatics and Vaccine Development: An Overview
Abstract
Angus Nnamdi Oli,1 Wilson Okechukwu Obialor,1 Martins Ositadimma Ifeanyichukwu,2,3 Damian Chukwu Odimegwu,4 Jude Nnaemeka Okoyeh,5 George Ogonna Emechebe,6 Samson Adedeji Adejumo,1 Gordon C Ibeanu7 1Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria; 2Department of Immunology, College of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Anambra, Nigeria; 3Department of Medical Laboratory Science,Faculty of Health Science and Technology, College of Health Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University,Nnewi Campus, Nnewi, Nigeria; 4Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu, Nigeria; 5Department of Biology and Clinical Laboratory Science, Division of Arts and Sciences, Neumann University, Aston, PA 19014-1298, USA; 6Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Clinical Medicine, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Awka, Nigeria; 7Department of Pharmaceutical Science, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USACorrespondence: Angus Nnamdi Oli Email [email protected]: The use of vaccines have resulted in a remarkable improvement in global health. It has saved several lives, reduced treatment costs and raised the quality of animal and human lives. Current traditional vaccines came empirically with either vague or completely no knowledge of how they modulate our immune system. Even at the face of potential vaccine design advance, immune-related concerns (as seen with specific vulnerable populations, cases of emerging/re-emerging infectious disease, pathogens with complex lifecycle and antigenic variability, need for personalized vaccinations, and concerns for vaccines’ immunological safety -specifically vaccine likelihood to trigger non-antigen-specific responses that may cause autoimmunity and vaccine allergy) are being raised. And these concerns have driven immunologists toward research for a better approach to vaccine design that will consider these challenges. Currently, immunoinformatics has paved the way for a better understanding of some infectious disease pathogenesis, diagnosis, immune system response and computational vaccinology. The importance of this immunoinformatics in the study of infectious diseases is diverse in terms of computational approaches used, but is united by common qualities related to host–pathogen relationship. Bioinformatics methods are also used to assign functions to uncharacterized genes which can be targeted as a candidate in vaccine design and can be a better approach toward the inclusion of women that are pregnant into vaccine trials and programs. The essence of this review is to give insight into the need to focus on novel computational, experimental and computation-driven experimental approaches for studying of host–pathogen interactions and thus making a case for its use in vaccine development.Keywords: immunoinformatics, computational vaccinology, vaccine design, emerging infections, immune system; vaccinology
