Premium
Innovative bioinformatic approaches for developing peptide‐based vaccines against hypervariable viruses
Author(s) -
Sirskyj Danylo,
DiazMitoma Francisco,
Golshani Ashkan,
Kumar Ashok,
Azizi Ali
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
immunology and cell biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0818-9641
DOI - 10.1038/icb.2010.65
Subject(s) - hypervariable region , virology , epitope , peptide vaccine , biology , computational biology , hiv vaccine , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , genetics , gene , antibody , vaccine trial
The application of the fields of pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics to vaccine design has been recently labeled ‘vaccinomics’. This newly named area of vaccine research, heavily intertwined with bioinformatics, seems to be leading the charge in developing novel vaccines for currently unmet medical needs against hypervariable viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C and emerging avian and swine influenza. Some of the more recent bioinformatic approaches in the area of vaccine research include the use of epitope determination and prediction algorithms for exploring the use of peptide epitopes as vaccine immunogens. This paper briefly discusses and explores some current uses of bioinformatics in vaccine design toward the pursuit of peptide vaccines for hypervariable viruses. The various informatics and vaccine design strategies attempted by other groups toward hypervariable viruses will also be briefly examined, along with the strategy used by our group in the design and synthesis of peptide immunogens for candidate HIV and influenza vaccines.