Going above and Beyond: Using an Attenuated Herpes Viral Vaccine Vector to Elicit Protective Immune Responses Through Neutralizing and Non-neutralizing Functions of Antibodies

Abstract

The need for effective vaccines has never been so apparent as with the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The rapid development and dissemination of the mRNA-based vaccines have been critical in preventing infection and decreasing the morbidity and mortality of severe infection [1]. Much of vaccine development throughout history has been focused on obtaining high levels of neutralizing antibodies, which function by binding to pathogens and interfering with replication [2]. While neutralization is an important mechanism of protection against infection, neutralizing antibodies in particular drive the evolution of viral escape mutants, which ultimately reduce the effectiveness of these same antibodies [3]. However, neutralization assays are more widely used and standardized, whereas measuring other aspects of antibodies, like effector function, is more complicated but still gaining