title: Host-Brucella interactions and the Brucella genome as tools for subunit antigen discovery and immunization against brucellosis.
abstract: Vaccination is the most important approach to counteract infectious diseases. Thus, the development of new and improved vaccines for existing, emerging, and re-emerging diseases is an area of great interest to the scientific community and general public. Traditional approaches to subunit antigen discovery and vaccine development lack consideration for the critical aspects of public safety and activation of relevant protective host immunity. The availability of genomic sequences for pathogenic Brucella spp. and their hosts have led to development of systems-wide analytical tools that have provided a better understanding of host and pathogen physiology while also beginning to unravel the intricacies at the host-pathogen interface. Advances in pathogen biology, host immunology, and host-agent interactions have the potential to serve as a platform for the design and implementation of better-targeted antigen discovery approaches. With emphasis on Brucella spp., we probe the biological aspects of host and pathogen that merit consideration in the targeted design of subunit antigen discovery and vaccine development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843, USA. ggomez@cvm.tamu.edu
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.forename: Leslie G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rice-Ficht
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Ficht
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002002:Brucella / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit
keywords: Brucellosis; antigen discovery; intracellular pathogens; reverse vaccinology; subunit vaccine; vaccines