A new meningococcal B vaccine: from antigen identification to their role in virulence and their immunological features

Most of the vaccines available today, although very effective, have been developed using conventional approaches. The advent of new technologies has provided many alternatives to the design of improved vaccines or of novel vaccines against infections for which preventive measures do not exist. An innovative approach named “Reverse Vaccinology has been instrumental to the identification of a vaccine against Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B, a bacterium causing a devastating disease characterized by meningitis and sepsis. The identification of previously unknown antigens has opened the field to many studies aimed to dissect function, immunogenicity, and ability of the novel antigens to be effective targets for antibody recognition in different strains representing the meningococcal genetic diversity. The innovative multicomponent MenB vaccine, licensed for use in infants and adolescents, is expected to reduce the incidence of meningococcal disease and to provide a significant public health benefit.

Mariagrazia Pizza is Senior Scientific Director of Bacteriology at GSK Vaccines, Siena, Italy. She has worked as scientist and project leader on different bacterial vaccine projects. She has contributed to the design and development of nontoxic derivatives of pertussis toxin, E.coli heat-labile toxin and cholera toxin by genetic engineering. The research on pertussis led to the discovery of a genetically detoxified pertussis toxin, devoid of toxicity but highly immunogenic, which has been the basis of a new vaccine against pertussis, which was licensed for immunization in infants. The new genetically detoxified derivatives of heat labile E. coli toxin (LT) and cholera toxin (CT) were shown to be powerful vaccine antigens and adjuvants. During her career she has received many scientific awards, is member of EMBO, of the European Academy of Microbiology, Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and Vice President of IUMS. She is co-author of over 180 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, and applied for over 60 patents.

Moderation: Professor Dr. Dörte Becher