Developing a Vaccine Against Human Cytomegalovirus: Identifying and Targeting HCMV’s Immunological Achilles’ Heel

Anastasia Lankina; Marta Raposo; Alexander Hargreaves; Claire Atkinson; Paul Griffiths; Matthew B. Reeves

doi:10.3390/vaccines13050435

Developing a Vaccine Against Human Cytomegalovirus: Identifying and Targeting HCMV’s Immunological Achilles’ Heel

Anastasia Lankina, Marta Raposo, Alexander Hargreaves, Claire Atkinson, Paul Griffiths, Matthew B. Reeves

Human Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a critical pathogen in immunocompromised populations, such as organ transplant recipients as well as congenitally infected neonates with immature immune systems. Despite decades of research and the growing financial burden associated with the management of HCMV, there is no licensed vaccine to date. In this review, we aim to outline the complexity of HCMV and the antigens it presents and the journey and challenges of developing an effective HCMV vaccine, as well as further highlight the recent analyses of the most successful vaccine candidate so far—gB/MF59.

Original language	English
Article number	435
Journal	Vaccines
Volume	13
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines13050435
Publication status	Published - 22 Apr 2025

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10.3390/vaccines13050435

vaccines-13-00435Final published version, 1.25 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

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title = "Developing a Vaccine Against Human Cytomegalovirus: Identifying and Targeting HCMV{\textquoteright}s Immunological Achilles{\textquoteright} Heel",

abstract = "Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a critical pathogen in immunocompromised populations, such as organ transplant recipients as well as congenitally infected neonates with immature immune systems. Despite decades of research and the growing financial burden associated with the management of HCMV, there is no licensed vaccine to date. In this review, we aim to outline the complexity of HCMV and the antigens it presents and the journey and challenges of developing an effective HCMV vaccine, as well as further highlight the recent analyses of the most successful vaccine candidate so far—gB/MF59.",

author = "Anastasia Lankina and Marta Raposo and Alexander Hargreaves and Claire Atkinson and Paul Griffiths and Reeves, {Matthew B.}",

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AU - Lankina, Anastasia

AU - Raposo, Marta

AU - Hargreaves, Alexander

AU - Atkinson, Claire

AU - Griffiths, Paul

AU - Reeves, Matthew B.

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N2 - Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a critical pathogen in immunocompromised populations, such as organ transplant recipients as well as congenitally infected neonates with immature immune systems. Despite decades of research and the growing financial burden associated with the management of HCMV, there is no licensed vaccine to date. In this review, we aim to outline the complexity of HCMV and the antigens it presents and the journey and challenges of developing an effective HCMV vaccine, as well as further highlight the recent analyses of the most successful vaccine candidate so far—gB/MF59.

AB - Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a critical pathogen in immunocompromised populations, such as organ transplant recipients as well as congenitally infected neonates with immature immune systems. Despite decades of research and the growing financial burden associated with the management of HCMV, there is no licensed vaccine to date. In this review, we aim to outline the complexity of HCMV and the antigens it presents and the journey and challenges of developing an effective HCMV vaccine, as well as further highlight the recent analyses of the most successful vaccine candidate so far—gB/MF59.

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DO - 10.3390/vaccines13050435

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