Protein Engineering: A Novel Approach in Vaccine Development

Due to advances in biotechnology, immunology and molecular biology, protein engineering has been an innovative technique for the development, optimization and production of vaccine. Deliberate alternation in the protein structure causes the improvement or change in the properties of the protein and due to this approach modification of the antigens for inducing the strong immune response is possible thus creating a benchmark in vaccine development. Recombinant DNA Technology, Epitope Mapping, Molecular Display Systems, Fusion Proteins and Designing of virus like particles are some of the key techniques in the protein engineering. Development of the various vaccines such as Hepatitis B vaccine, HPV Vaccine and Covid-19 Vaccine are some of the successes of protein engineering approach. However, there are some challenges associated with the techniques such as Antigen Stability, Immune Evasion and High production cost. Study of structure function relationship is a crucial part of the vaccine development. Keywords: Protein Engineering, Antigens, Recombinant DNA Technology, Epitope Mapping, Immune Evasion.