Coping with genetic diversity: the contribution of pathogen and human genomics to modern vaccinology

Lemaire, D.; Barbosa, T.; Rihet, P.

Genome-wide screening using functional selection methods such as DNA microarrays, gene knockout libraries, or screening of cDNA expression libraries using patients' sera has been employed in the prospection of vaccine candidates (reviewed in Ref. 12) . These approaches allow the evaluation of the possible immunogenic and immunoprotective roles of all molecules (either surface expressed or secreted by pathogens), thereby enabling the identification of candidate antigens that were not identified by the methodologies applied in conventional vaccinology. This means that even molecules that are expressed at very low levels or only under certain conditions can be tested for their potential as candidate vaccines. In brief, genomics coupled with other new "omics" fields of study such as www.bjournal.com.br Braz J Med Biol Res 45(5) 2012 transcriptomics, proteomics, and immunomics enables the identification of vaccine candidate molecules based on pathogen genome analysis.