Vaccine Strategies for Gastrointestinal Infections

Gastrointestinal (GI) infections remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, affecting individuals across all ages, geographies, and immune states. Enteric pathogens including viruses, bacteria, and toxin-producing organisms continue to challenge public health systems despite advances in sanitation, diagnostics, and antimicrobial therapy. The emergence of antimicrobial resistance, recurring outbreaks, and the substantial economic and societal burden of diarrheal diseases underscore the need for effective preventive strategies. Vaccination represents one of the most powerful and scalable tools to reduce the incidence, severity, and transmission of gastrointestinal infections. However, the unique immunological environment of the gut, pathogen diversity, and variability in host responses have limited the success of many enteric vaccines. Recent advances in mucosal immunology, vaccine platforms, adjuvants, and delivery systems offer renewed opportunities to overcome these challenges and reshape prevention strategies for GI infections.The goal of this Research Topic is to advance understanding of how vaccines can be optimized to prevent gastrointestinal infections across diverse populations. Despite clear successes with select enteric vaccines, many GI pathogens remain without effective immunization strategies, and existing vaccines often show variable efficacy. By bringing together emerging science on mucosal immunity, next-generation vaccine platforms, and host–microbe interactions, this collection aims to identify gaps, highlight innovations, and define future directions in enteric vaccine development. Emphasis is placed on translating recent advances into practical, scalable solutions that can reduce disease burden, limit antimicrobial use, and improve global health outcomes. Collectively, these contributions aim to inform the next generation of vaccine strategies for gastrointestinal infections. This Research Topic welcomes original research articles, reviews, perspectives, and translational studies addressing vaccine strategies for the prevention of gastrointestinal infections. Submissions may focus on basic, translational, clinical, or population-level research. Contributions spanning pediatric, adult, and older populations, as well as global and resource-limited settings, are welcome. Interdisciplinary work integrating immunology, microbiology, gastroenterology, and public health is particularly encouraged. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:• Mucosal immune responses and correlates of protection in enteric vaccine development• Vaccine platforms for GI pathogens, including live attenuated, inactivated, subunit, conjugate, mRNA, and vector-based approaches• Antigen discovery and epitope selection for bacterial, viral, and toxin-mediated gastrointestinal infections• Oral and intranasal vaccine delivery systems and their role in inducing durable gut immunity• Adjuvants and formulation strategies to enhance immunogenicity of GI vaccines• Clinical trial design and real-world effectiveness of vaccines targeting gastrointestinal infections• Age-specific considerations, including pediatric, adult, and elderly vaccine responses• Microbiome–vaccine interactions and their influence on vaccine efficacy and durability• Implementation challenges, including vaccine access, uptake, and integration into public health strategies. Topic editors: Sahil Khanna, Colm Antoine O Morain, TAMIZH SELVAN G, Tai Zhang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78347/vaccine-strategies-for-gastrointestinal-infections