Systems vaccinology and big data in the vaccine development chain

Raeven, René H. M.; van Riet, Elly; Meiring, Hugo D.; Metz, Bernard; Kersten, Gideon F. A.

During the discovery phase a systems approach can be implemented to investigate vaccine composition as is especially interesting for complex multi-protein vaccines (Fig. 2) . For example, transcriptomics and/or proteomics approaches can be applied during strain generation for an inactivated vaccine to provide detailed information on protein composition and, more specifically, the proportion of immunogenic proteins. These techniques can subsequently be used for process development to verify whether or not the product is similar when produced at a larger scale. This was, for instance, demonstrated for pertussis whole-cell vaccines. 97 Information on the relationship between cultivation conditions and the composition of the final vaccine, considerably enhances the process of optimizing vaccine efficacy. In addition, it reveals key process parameters that can subsequently be tightly monitored, making the process more consistent and thereby eventual vaccine release easier.