Structural Vaccinology for Melioidosis Vaccine Design and Immunodiagnostics

Purpose of Review: Spurred by the successful application of structural vaccinology to other challenging bacterial and viral pathogens, we review the possibility of exploiting 3D structure computational-based recombinant antigen engineering strategies for the development of a protective melioidosis vaccine. Recent Findings: Structure-based epitope design approaches in the melioidosis field are preliminary and applied essentially by one research network. By combining Burkholderia pseudomallei antigen 3D structures and in silico epitope discovery methods, a panel of synthetic epitope peptides were designed and tested for their B and T cell stimulatory activities. Several peptides were found to be serodiagnostic for B. pseudomallei infection and two elicited bactericidal antibodies. Summary: A significant amount of B. pseudomallei antigen structures, epitopes, and immunological data is available. Future challenges will be to test all available B. pseudomallei epitopes, focusing on combing multiple B/T cell epitopes onto a single scaffold to generate components, stimulating both arms of the immune system.