Abstract

FERREIRA, Joilyneth  and  PORCO, Antonietta. Vaccines derived from genome analysis: reverse vaccinology. INCI [online]. 2008, vol.33, n.5, pp.353-358. ISSN 0378-1844.

For more than 200 years, vaccination has been a very effective tool to prevent infectious diseases. Nevertheless, conventional methods have failed to provide efficient vaccines against the majority of infectious pathogens. Recent advances in biotechnology allowed sequencing the genomes of several microorganisms, and the use of a genomic approach has revolutionized vaccine development. This new approach has been named Reverse Vaccinology. It begins with the analysis of genome sequences and uses bioinformatics tools to allow scientists to identify the most probable antigens as candidates for a vaccine. These antigens are selected on the basis of the prediction of their secreted or membrane structures. They are then cloned and analyzed in order to confirm their cellular location in vitro and to evaluate their immunogenic and protective capacity using animal models. This technology has been successfully used for the first time with Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B, opening the way for its application with other pathogens like the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Recently, this new methodology has been used to identify vaccine candidates against the bovine pathogen Theileria parva. The potential use of this powerful technology for the identification of new vaccine candidates described.

Keywords : Bioinformática; Genómica; Neisseria meningitidis; Vacunas; Vacunología Inversa.