Current Update on Rotavirus in-Silico Multiepitope Vaccine Design

Abstract

Rotavirus gastroenteritis is one of the leading causes of pediatric morbidity and mortality worldwide in infants and under-five populations. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended global incorporation of the rotavirus vaccine in national immunization programs to alleviate the burden of the disease. Implementation of the rotavirus vaccination in certain regions of the world brought about a significant and consistent reduction of rotavirus-associated hospitalizations. However, the efficacy of licensed vaccines remains suboptimal in low-income countries where the incidences of rotavirus gastroenteritis continue to happen unabated. The problem of low efficacy of currently licensed oral rotavirus vaccines in low-income countries necessitates continuous exploration, design, and development of new rotavirus vaccines. Traditional vaccine development is a complex, expensive, labor-intensive, and time-consuming process. Reverse vaccinology essentially utilizes the genome and proteome information on pathogens and has opened new avenues for in-silico multiepitope vaccine design for a plethora of pathogens, promising time reduction in the complete vaccine development pipeline by complementing the traditional vaccinology approach. A substantial number of reviews on licensed rotavirus vaccines and those under evaluation are already available in the literature. However, a collective account of rotavirus in-silico vaccines is lacking in the literature, and such an account may further fuel the interest of researchers to use reverse vaccinology to expedite the vaccine development process. Therefore, the main focus of this review is to summarize the research endeavors undertaken for the design and development of rotavirus vaccines by the reverse vaccinology approach utilizing the tools of immunoinformatics.

Rotavirus Vaccination of Premature Newborns in the NICU: Evaluation of Vaccination Rates and Safety Based on a Single-Centre Study

“…Statistically, infection was significantly more frequent in babies with a birth weight of less than 2500 g, postmenstrual age (PMA) of less than 37 weeks of gestation, and those born by caesarean section, confirming previous observations. In addition, the research team conducted a viral genotyping analysis, identifying the genotype in 131 samples, the absolute majority of which were of the G4P [6] genotype (95.4%). The authors did not analyse vaccination rates in a single centre, as we did, but they focused on an epidemiological assessment of the prevalence of rotavirus infection in the NICU patient population over a five-year period following the introduction of rotavirus vaccination in South Korea.…”

“…Apart from this, the virus also contains an viral RNA polymerase and a capping enzyme. It was first detected and identified as the aetiological agent of diarrhoea in 1973 [ 6 , 7 ]. It is the most common agent of gastrointestinal infections in children of <5 years of age and the leading cause of hospitalisation for diarrhoea [ 5 , 8 ].…”

Development of a Novel Bivalent Vaccine Candidate against Hepatitis A Virus and Rotavirus Using Reverse Vaccinology and Immunoinformatics

“…Long peptides with immunodominant epitopes may be employed as vaccines if they can stimulate both humoral and cellular immunity against a variety of serological types (23,24). The terms "multivalent" and "multivalent vaccine" are frequently used imprecisely to refer to two distinct vaccine types (25): one that may provide protection against numerous illnesses with a single vaccine and one that can provide protection against multiple strains of a single pathogen (25)(26)(27). Because they can protect against several illnesses with fewer injections, lower the cost of healthcare and patient care, and streamline vaccination programs while preserving the effectiveness and safety of singlecomponent vaccines, e cient multivalent vaccines are highly desired (28,29).…”

Advances and perspectives in the development of vaccines against highly pathogenic bunyaviruses

“…Other logistical considerations include the scale of vaccination (such as endemic and other at-risk populations) and access to the highest biocontainment, such as BSL-4 laboratories, to test these vaccine candidates. Besides traditional vaccines, such as inactivated and subunit vaccines, new emerging technologies have facilitated the innovation of novel vaccines, such as microfluidic-based mRNA vaccines ( Tarim et al., 2023 ), and silico-based antigen design ( Hederman and Ackerman, 2023 ; Kuri and Goswami, 2023 ), which have enriched the variety of potential vaccine candidates. Here, we summarize research advances on prophylactic options currently in development for three highly pathogenic bunyaviruses: CCHFV, RVFV and HTNV, and discuss future directions towards the clinical development of these vaccine candidates.…”