The first key for the Priority Pathogens: Protective immunogens in development of vaccines and medications

The World Health Organization has updated the Priority Pathogens List based on risk assessments of the world's endemic pathogens, the majority of which are viruses. This assessment proposed to extend research and preparation to the entire families of Priority Pathogens, rather than just focusing on individual known high-risk pathogens. The 21 viruses on the Priority Pathogens List belong to 13 virus families. Viruses within the same family have similarities in genes, immunogens, immunity, and transmission, etc. A protective immunogen is an antigenic component that can induce a protective immune response in the immune system after the invasion of pathogenic microorganisms, and it always serves as the early focal point of vaccines and treatment method developments during an outbreak. Here, we summarized the protective immunogens of Priority Pathogens, found the common features of protective immunogens of viruses in the same family, and proposed that the development of vaccines and screening of neutralizing antibodies based on this clue may be applied to the prevention and control of the epidemics or even pandemics of these Priority Pathogens.