Defining mechanistic immune correlates of protection for vaccine development

Vaccines and other immune-based interventions are among the most effective strategies for preventing and controlling disease. However, their development is often costly, time-consuming, and prone to late-stage failure. Correlates of protection (CoP) can thus accelerate development by informing antigen selection, formulation, dose and regimen, adjuvant choice, and prioritisation of vaccine candidates. CoP can also be used for immunobridging and supporting alternative approval pathways, which is crucial when field efficacy trials are impractical (e.g., low incidence). However, despite the importance of CoP in vaccine development, identifying reliable CoP remains challenging. Protection is often not defined by a single laboratory marker and may vary depending on host demographics, genetic background, pathogen heterogeneity, or disease context. There is therefore a continuing need to better understand the immune responses that contribute to protection to accelerate vaccine development.For many infections and diseases, correlates of protection (CoP) cannot be defined by a single laboratory marker. Instead, protection often reflects a combination of immune measurements, including humoral and cellular immune responses, mucosal immunity and systems-level immunology signatures. Thus, we believe that a deeper understanding of the underlying immune mechanisms that contribute to protection will enable identification of critical immune features that contribute to vaccine-mediated protection. These studies should in turn guide the development of reliable assays to accurately measure these mechanistic CoP. In parallel, statistical and machine learning approaches that integrate various immune parameters can facilitate both the identification of composite immune signatures and a deeper understanding of how coordinated immune responses contribute to protection. Advances in systems immunology, multi-omics profiling, data integration, and regulatory science now provide an unprecedented opportunity to define more rigorous and generalizable correlates of protection. Together, these advances can support accelerated licensure, platform vaccine evaluation, and rapid responses to emerging pathogens.Given the complexity of immune mechanisms that contribute to protective immunity, and the continuing need to define reliable correlates of protection across diverse diseases and immune-based interventions, this Research Topic welcomes research articles related to:1. Identification of immune markers or parameters associated with protection following vaccination, natural infection, or immunotherapy2. Mechanistic studies elucidating the contribution of specific immune cell populations or pathways to protective immunity3. Defining humoral, cellular, and mucosal immune correlates of protection4. Innovative experimental, systems immunology and computational approaches to characterize tissue-specific or context-dependent immune responses5. Statistical, bioinformatic, and machine learning methods for integrating diverse immune parameters and modeling protection6. Host genetic, demographic, and environmental factors influencing protective immune responses Topic editors: Kuan Rong Chan, Chao-Nan Lin, Youjia Zhong, Lynn Lin Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78899/defining-mechanistic-immune-correlates-of-protection-for-vaccine-development