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Vaccines
Special Issues
Vaccine Development for Influenza Virus
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Vaccine Development for Influenza Virus

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "Influenza Virus Vaccines".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 7256

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Mingtao Zeng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center of Emphasis in Infectious Diseases, Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA
Interests: drug delivery; vaccines against infectious diseases (anthrax, botulism, influenza, pneumococcal diseases, and tularemia)
Dr. Ganesh Yadaigiri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
Interests: influenza vaccine; visceral leishmaniasis; nanotechnology; nanomedicine and nanovaccines for infectious diseases; mucosal immunity

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Influenza viruses spread rapidly and can infect animals and humans. Vaccine development for animal and human influenza viruses is essential for protecting animal and human populations from seasonal flu strains and potential pandemics. The process involves identifying the target antigens, utilizing various vaccine production methods, and conducting rigorous clinical trials to ensure the vaccine’s safety and efficacy. The addition of adjuvants can improve the vaccine’s efficacy and promote dose sparing. Adjuvants not only enhance the immune response to antigens, but can also be effective against antigenically different viruses. The success of mRNA vaccine technology in the fight against COVID-19 has generated interest in applying this platform to influenza strains. In addition to the traditional trivalent vaccines, quadrivalent vaccines that provide protection against four influenza strains have become widely available. High-dose vaccines are also developed for older adults, who may have stronger immune responses. In this Special Issue, we are interested in receiving a combination of original papers and reviews focusing on the following topics:

  1. Immune responses to influenza virus infection and vaccination;
  2. Challenges to current influenza vaccination strategies;
  3. Innovative vaccine development technologies;
  4. The application of nanotechnology in the delivery and formulation of vaccines.

Prof. Dr. Mingtao Zeng
Dr. Ganesh Yadaigiri
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • influenza vaccine
  • adjuvant
  • mRNA vaccine
  • novel vaccine technology
  • nanotechnology
  • immune response
  • animal
  • human

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1641 KiB  
Article
Intranasal M2SR and BM2SR Vaccine Viruses Do Not Shed or Transmit in Ferrets
by Yasuko Hatta, Lindsay Hill-Batorski, Michael J. Moser, David Marshall, David A. Boltz, Landon Westfall, Renee Herber, Sally Sarawar and Pamuk Bilsel
Vaccines 2024, 12(11), 1228; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12111228 - 29 Oct 2024
Viewed by 892
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Live influenza vaccines are considered to stimulate better overall immune responses but are associated with safety concerns regarding shedding and the potential for transmission or reassortment with wild-type influenza viruses. Intranasal M2SR and BM2SR (M2- and BM2-deficient single replication), intranasal influenza viruses, [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Live influenza vaccines are considered to stimulate better overall immune responses but are associated with safety concerns regarding shedding and the potential for transmission or reassortment with wild-type influenza viruses. Intranasal M2SR and BM2SR (M2- and BM2-deficient single replication), intranasal influenza viruses, have shown promise as broadly cross-reactive next-generation influenza vaccines. The replication deficiency, shedding, and transmissibility of M2SR/BM2SR viruses were evaluated in a ferret model. Methods: Wild-type influenza A and B control viruses replicated in upper respiratory organs and transmitted to both direct and aerosol contact ferrets, whereas M2SR and BM2SR influenza vaccine viruses were not detected in any tissues or in nasal washes after inoculation and were not recovered from any direct or aerosol contact ferrets. Mice were simultaneously infected with wild-type influenza A and M2SR viruses to assess reassortment potential. Sequence and PCR analyses of the genome recovered from individual virus plaques isolated from lung homogenates identified the origin of the segments as exclusively from the replicating wild-type virus. Results: These results indicate that M2SR and BM2SR influenza vaccine viruses are attenuated, do not shed or transmit, and have a low probability for reassortment after coinfection. Absence of shedding was further demonstrated in nasal swabs taken from subjects who were inoculated with H3N2 M2SR in a previously described Phase 1 clinical study. Conclusions: These results indicate that M2SR/BM2SR viruses have the potential to be used in a broader population range than current live influenza vaccines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccine Development for Influenza Virus)
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14 pages, 3786 KiB  
Article
A Chymotrypsin-Dependent Live-Attenuated Influenza Vaccine Provides Protective Immunity against Homologous and Heterologous Viruses
by Peiqing He, Mengxuan Gui, Tian Chen, Yue Zeng, Congjie Chen, Zhen Lu, Ningshao Xia, Guosong Wang and Yixin Chen
Vaccines 2024, 12(5), 512; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12050512 - 8 May 2024
Viewed by 1620
Abstract
Influenza virus is one of the main pathogens causing respiratory diseases in humans. Vaccines are the most effective ways to prevent viral diseases. However, the limited protective efficacy of current influenza vaccines highlights the importance of novel, safe, and effective universal influenza vaccines. [...] Read more.
Influenza virus is one of the main pathogens causing respiratory diseases in humans. Vaccines are the most effective ways to prevent viral diseases. However, the limited protective efficacy of current influenza vaccines highlights the importance of novel, safe, and effective universal influenza vaccines. With the progress of the COVID-19 pandemic, live-attenuated vaccines delivered through respiratory mucosa have shown robustly protective efficacy. How to obtain a safe and effective live-attenuated vaccine has become a major challenge. Herein, using the influenza virus as a model, we have established a strategy to quickly obtain a live-attenuated vaccine by mutating the cleavage site of the influenza virus. This mutated influenza virus can be specifically cleaved by chymotrypsin. It has similar biological characteristics to the original strain in vitro, but the safety is improved by at least 100 times in mice. It can effectively protect against lethal doses of both homologous H1N1 and heterologous H5N1 viruses post mucosal administration, confirming that the vaccine generated by this strategy has good safety and broad-spectrum protective activities. Therefore, this study can provide valuable insights for the development of attenuated vaccines for respiratory viruses or other viruses with cleavage sites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccine Development for Influenza Virus)
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10 pages, 515 KiB  
Article
Mid-Term Estimates of Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness against the A(H1N1)pdm09 Prevalent Circulating Subtype in the 2023/24 Season: Data from the Sicilian RespiVirNet Surveillance System
by Claudio Costantino, Walter Mazzucco, Giorgio Graziano, Carmelo Massimo Maida, Francesco Vitale and Fabio Tramuto
Vaccines 2024, 12(3), 305; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12030305 - 14 Mar 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2190
Abstract
The current influenza season started in Italy in October 2023, approaching the epidemic peak in late December (52nd week of the year). We aimed to explore the mid-term virologic surveillance data of the 2023/2024 influenza season (from 16 October 2023 to 7 January [...] Read more.
The current influenza season started in Italy in October 2023, approaching the epidemic peak in late December (52nd week of the year). We aimed to explore the mid-term virologic surveillance data of the 2023/2024 influenza season (from 16 October 2023 to 7 January 2024) in Sicily, the fourth most populous Italian region. A test-negative design was used to estimate the effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccine (VE) against A(H1N1)pdm09 virus, the predominant subtype in Sicily (96.2% of laboratory-confirmed influenza cases). Overall, 29.2% (n = 359/1230) of oropharyngeal swabs collected from patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) were positive for influenza. Among the laboratory-confirmed influenza cases, 12.5% (n = 45/359) were vaccinated against influenza, with higher prevalence of laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of influenza A among subjects vaccinated with quadrivalent inactivated standard dose (29.4%), live attenuated intranasal (25.1%), and quadrivalent inactivated high-dose (23.8%) influenza vaccines. Comparing influenza vaccination status for the 2023/2024 season among laboratory-confirmed influenza-positive and -negative samples, higher vaccination rates in influenza-negative samples (vs. positive) were observed in all age groups, except for 45–64 years old, regardless of sex and comorbidities. The overall adjusted VE (adj-VE) was 41.4% [95%CI: 10.5–61.6%], whereas the adj-VE was 37.9% [95%CI: −0.7–61.7%] among children 7 months–14 years old and 52.7% [95%CI: −38.0–83.8%] among the elderly (≥65 years old). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccine Development for Influenza Virus)
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11 pages, 249 KiB  
Article
Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccination and Early Antiviral Treatment in Reducing Pneumonia Risk in Severe Influenza Cases
by Pere Godoy, Núria Soldevila, Ana Martínez, Sofia Godoy, Mireia Jané, Nuria Torner, Lesly Acosta, Cristina Rius, Àngela Domínguez and The Surveillance of Hospitalized Cases of Severe Influenza in Catalonia Working Group
Vaccines 2024, 12(2), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12020173 - 7 Feb 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1913
Abstract
Introduction: Influenza vaccination may be effective in preventing influenza infection and may reduce the risk of influenza-associated pneumonia. The study aim was to evaluate the effect of influenza vaccination in preventing pneumonia when it failed to prevent influenza hospitalization. Methods: This was a [...] Read more.
Introduction: Influenza vaccination may be effective in preventing influenza infection and may reduce the risk of influenza-associated pneumonia. The study aim was to evaluate the effect of influenza vaccination in preventing pneumonia when it failed to prevent influenza hospitalization. Methods: This was a case–control study comparing hospitalized cases of influenza with and without pneumonia in patients aged ≥18 years in 16 hospitals in Catalonia over 10 influenza seasons (2010–11 to 2019–20). Data on sociodemographic, virological characteristics, comorbidities, vaccination history, and antiviral treatment were collected and analysed. The crude odds ratio (OR) and adjusted OR (aOR) with the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) values were calculated. Results: In total, 5080 patients hospitalized for severe influenza were included, 63.5% (3224/5080) of whom had pneumonia—mostly men (56.8%; 1830/3224) and mostly in the ≥75 age group (39.3%; 1267/3224)—and of whom 14.0% died (451/3224). Virus A and virus B accounted for 78.1% (2518/3224) and 21.9% (705/3224) of influenza types, respectively. Starting antiviral treatment ≤48 h after symptom onset (aOR = 0.69; 95%CI: 0.53–0.90) and a history of seasonal influenza vaccination (aOR = 0.85; 95%CI: 0.72–0.98) were protective factors in developing pneumonia. Conclusions: Adherence to seasonal influenza vaccination and starting antiviral treatment within 48 h of symptom onset can reduce pneumonia risk in severe influenza cases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccine Development for Influenza Virus)
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