Infectious diseases are a serious threat to global welfare, affecting both human and animal health. Infectious diseases, caused by infectious agents, impact hundreds and thousands of lives and lead to substantial economic losses. Generally, bacterial pathogens that reside intracellularly are harder to treat as conventional antibacterial agents such as ß-lactams, macrolides, fluoroquinolones, and aminoglycosides have difficulty in penetrating and accumulating inside mammalian cells. Some examples of such pathogens are Brucella abortus, Listeria monocytogenes, Chlamydia trachomatis, Coxiella burnetii, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Salmonella enterica . The development of resistance to antibiotics by these pathogens further complicates the treatment and the resultant increase in treatment duration and therapeutic doses are associated with severe side effects. Training of host immune system through vaccines to acquire adaptive immunity against intracellular bacterial pathogens holds great importance in lowering the antibiotics resistance burden and treating these pathogens.
Vaccine development against intracellular bacterial pathogens is challenging. Generally, the vaccines need to induce a wide range of immune responses, for example, helper T cell, cytotoxic T cell, and B cell responses. While these responses are easy to produce by live attenuated vaccines, it is difficult in the case of non-living vaccines. Vaccines for intracellular pathogens, in particular, are more problematic to design due to difficulties in the identification of protective antigens and associated problems in inducing cellular immune responses.
Under this broad theme, we welcome original research, review, and mini-reviews that fall within the following scope:
• Experimental and computational identification of protective antigens from intracellular bacterial pathogens.
• Vaccinology strategies against intracellular bacterial pathogens.
• Alternative strategies of vaccine to combat intracellular bacterial pathogens.
• Antibodies-based treatment of intracellular bacterial pathogens.
Infectious diseases are a serious threat to global welfare, affecting both human and animal health. Infectious diseases, caused by infectious agents, impact hundreds and thousands of lives and lead to substantial economic losses. Generally, bacterial pathogens that reside intracellularly are harder to treat as conventional antibacterial agents such as ß-lactams, macrolides, fluoroquinolones, and aminoglycosides have difficulty in penetrating and accumulating inside mammalian cells. Some examples of such pathogens are Brucella abortus, Listeria monocytogenes, Chlamydia trachomatis, Coxiella burnetii, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Salmonella enterica . The development of resistance to antibiotics by these pathogens further complicates the treatment and the resultant increase in treatment duration and therapeutic doses are associated with severe side effects. Training of host immune system through vaccines to acquire adaptive immunity against intracellular bacterial pathogens holds great importance in lowering the antibiotics resistance burden and treating these pathogens.
Vaccine development against intracellular bacterial pathogens is challenging. Generally, the vaccines need to induce a wide range of immune responses, for example, helper T cell, cytotoxic T cell, and B cell responses. While these responses are easy to produce by live attenuated vaccines, it is difficult in the case of non-living vaccines. Vaccines for intracellular pathogens, in particular, are more problematic to design due to difficulties in the identification of protective antigens and associated problems in inducing cellular immune responses.
Under this broad theme, we welcome original research, review, and mini-reviews that fall within the following scope:
• Experimental and computational identification of protective antigens from intracellular bacterial pathogens.
• Vaccinology strategies against intracellular bacterial pathogens.
• Alternative strategies of vaccine to combat intracellular bacterial pathogens.
• Antibodies-based treatment of intracellular bacterial pathogens.
