Leondios G Kostrikis
University of Cyprus, Cyprus
Title: Development of vaccines using genetically engineered Inoviruses
Biography
Biography: Leondios G Kostrikis
Abstract
An effective vaccine will likely depend on success in designing immunogens that elicit potent neutralizing antibodies to naturally circulating strains of infectious agents including viruses. In the past, antigen-presenting viral vectors have been extensively used as vehicles for the presentation of antigens to the immune system in numerous vaccine strategies. In previously known vaccine development efforts, two main viral vectors have been used as antigen carriers: Live attenuated vectors and virus-like particles (VLPs); the former, although tends to be highly effective in animal studies, raises safety concerns and the latter is less effective to induce neutralizing antibodies. For more than two decades, Inoviruses have also been utilized as antigen carriers in several vaccine studies. Inoviral vectors are important antigen-carriers in vaccine development due to their ability to present an antigen on their outer architecture in many copies and to their natural high immunogenicity. Numerous fundamental studies have been conducted, which have established the unique properties of antigen-displayed inoviral vectors. The recent isolation of new, potent neutralizing monoclonal antibodies for many viruses causing diseases provides a new momentum in this emerging technology. I will describe fundamental approaches for the development of vaccines using genetically engineered Inoviruses.
