Bacterial proteomics and identification of potential vaccine targets

Currently, the greatest causes of human morbidity and mortality are infectious diseases. Vaccination remains the most effective measure to lessen this burden on the human population. Many vaccines presently in use were developed using techniques first proposed by Louis Pasteur, which involved the use of inactivated, attenuated live forms, or extracts of pathogenic organisms to immunize the host and provide protection from the disease. The advent of the genomic era has recently led to a new generation of rationally designed vaccines developed using a process termed reverse vaccinology. This approach uses genomic data in silico to identify proteins encoded by the pathogen as potential vaccine candidates. Proteomic technologies serve as an important complement to the reverse vaccinology approach to antigen discovery. Proteomic techniques are able to identify proteins that are expressed by the pathogen during infection of a host and the subset of proteins that reside on the surface of the pathogen. These two traits should be considered central factors to vaccine antigen selection as they assure that the host will be able to mount an effective immune response that leads to lasting protection from the pathogen.