The Development of a Vaccine Against Meningococcus B Using Reverse Vaccinology

Discussion The licensure in 2013 of the four component MenB vaccine (Bexsero) was the culmination of a scientific collaboration between university and industry-based scientists. The former provided cutting edge genomic, genetic, and clinical trials expertise; the latter undertook the vital high-throughput, “brute force” evaluation of hundreds of candidate antigens discovered through genomics, the in-depth characterization of the functional and immunological properties of the selected vaccine antigens and then stage-managed the pre-clinical and clinical testing required to obtain licensure. The facilitating technological breakthrough of WGS of bacterial pathogens came about through a former NIH academic, Craig Venter, who used his entrepreneurial vision to set up TIGR, the sequencing facility that made the MenB project possible. The 2018 Gairdner Award to Rino Rappuoli https://www.aditecproject.eu/2017/05/04 who oversaw this academic-commercial partnership was fitting recognition of his role in driving through the innovative application of genomics to antigen discovery, the first example of what has become known as “reverse vaccinology.” 4CMenB represents a striking departure from the successful research and development platform that resulted in several, highly safe and effective conjugate meningococcal vaccines (against meningococcal serogroups A, C, W, and Y strains) formulated through covalent chemical linkage of different serogroup capsula...
Source: Frontiers in Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research