Chapters authored
Artificial Epitope-Based Immunogens in HIV-Vaccine Design
One of the promising approaches for designing HIV vaccines is construction of synthetic polyepitope HIV-1 immunogen using a wide range of conservative T- and B-cell epitopes of the main virus antigens. In theory this approach helps cope with HIV-1 antigenic variability, focuses immune responses on protective determinants and enables to exclude from the vaccine compound adverse regions of viral proteins that can induce autoantibodies or antibodies enhancing infectivity of virus. The paper presents the experience of our team in development of artificial polyepitope HIV-1 immunogens, which can induce both a humoral response, and responses of cytotoxic (CD8 + CTL) and helpers (CD4 + Th) T-cells. The design of HIV-immunogens has been done using our original software, TEpredict and PolyCTLDesigner. We describe development of the candidate HIV-1/AIDS vaccine – CombiHIVvac, which included two artificial polyepitope immunogens TBI and TCI for stimulating humoral and cellular responses. The results of the specific activity and safety of CombiHIVvac vaccine, obtained during preclinical and clinical trials, are presented.
Part of the book: Advances in HIV and AIDS Control
Approaches to Improve the Immunogenicity of Plasmid DNA-Based Vaccines against COVID-19
Plasmid DNA-based vaccines are attracting considerable interest because of their potential as a platform technology that can be used for a variety of purposes from prevention to therapy. The COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated the development of this platform. The DNA vaccine against COVID-19, developed by Zydus Cadila, was the world’s first DNA vaccine approved for human vaccination. However, the problem of low immunogenicity of DNA vaccines has not yet been completely solved. This article will describe the authors’ experience in creating plasmid DNA-based vaccines against COVID-19, including the design of target antigens, artificial polyepitope T-cell immunogens, delivery of the resulting plasmid constructs using polycationic biodegradable polymers, and producing artificial self-assembled particles incorporating the recombinant protein and DNA vaccine.
Part of the book: Population Genetics