Recent advances in veterinary applications of structural vaccinology

Abstract

The deployment of effective veterinary vaccines has had a major impact on improving food security and consequently human health. Effective vaccines were essential for the global eradication of Rinderpest and the control and eradication of foot-and-mouth disease in some regions of the world. Effective vaccines also underpin the development of modern intensive food production systems such as poultry and aquaculture. However, for some high consequence diseases there are still significant challenges to develop effective vaccines. There is a strong track record in veterinary medicine of early adoption of new technologies to produce vaccines. Here we provide examples of new technologies to interrogate B cell responses and using structural biology to improve antigens.

Figure 1

Precise changes to the structure of viral proteins can significantly enhance their antigenic properties. The example shown on the left is a foot-and-mouth disease virus capsid that readily dissociates into pentamers that will not induce protective immune responses. However, if point mutation is introduced at the boundary of the pentamers to form a new covalent bond, compare left and right lower structures, the intact capsids are stabilised and can survive heat or acid treatment and induce protective responses.