A NEW APPROACH FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SYNTHETIC PEPTIDE VACCINES FOR VIRAL INFECTIONS

Abstract

Rabies virus is the factor of rabies which is an acute and fatal infection that targets Central Nervous System (CNS). Rabies is one of the most critical diseases that spreads with zoonosis; transfer of virus to humans via animals. According to data obtained from World Health Organization (WHO) about 55,000 people lose their lives due to rabies each year. Vaccination is the only effective precaution against rabies. However because vaccines used today have a lot of disadvantage, scientists have been working to come up with an alternative to Pasteur vaccine method for a long time. Synthetic peptide vaccines, which is one of these methods, is composed out fragments of the protein structure that shows antigen properties. After the amino acid number, type and order of these fragments are determined, they are synthesized chemically and the obtained peptides can be used as a vaccine. These peptide sequences are recognized by the immune system and induce the immunity response. As it can be seen in the studies; peptide vaccines have a lot of advantages compared to traditional vaccines. Not containing live viruses, non-toxicity, non-expensive and relatively easier production technology and formulation are some of them. This is why it was thought that production of peptide vaccine for rabies will have a lot of advantages.