Today, vaccinologists have come to understand that the hallmark of any protective immune response is the antigen. However, it is not the whole antigen that dictates the immune response, but rather the various parts comprising the whole that are capable of influencing immunogenicity. Protein-based antigens hold particular importance within this structural approach to understanding immunity because, though different molecules can serve as antigens, only proteins are capable of inducing both cellular and humoral immunity. This fact, coupled with the versatility and customizability of proteins when considering vaccine design applications, makes protein-based vaccines (PBVs) one of today's most promising technologies for artificially inducing immunity. In this review, we follow the development of PBV technologies through time and discuss the antigen-specific receptors that are most critical to any immune response: pattern recognition receptors, B cell receptors, and T cell receptors. Knowledge of these receptors and their ligands has become exceptionally valuable in the field of vaccinology, where today it is possible to make drastic modifications to PBV structure, from primary to quaternary, in order to promote recognition of target epitopes, potentiate vaccine immunogenicity, and prevent antigen-associated complications. Additionally, these modifications have made it possible to control immune responses by modulating stability and targeting PBV to key immune cells. Consequently, careful consideration should be given to protein structure when designing PBVs in the future in order to potentiate PBV efficacy.

中文翻译：

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改进的基于蛋白质的疫苗功效的抗原结构和组成设计。

如今，疫苗学家已经了解到，任何保护性免疫应答的标志都是抗原。然而，不是整个抗原决定了免疫应答，而是构成整个抗原的能够影响免疫原性的各个部分。基于蛋白质的抗原在这种理解免疫的结构方法中特别重要，因为尽管不同的分子可以充当抗原，但只有蛋白质才能诱导细胞和体液免疫。这一事实，再加上在考虑疫苗设计应用时蛋白质的多功能性和可定制性，使得基于蛋白质的疫苗（PBV）成为当今最有希望的人工诱导免疫技术之一。在这篇评论中 我们将随着时间的推移关注PBV技术的发展，并讨论对任何免疫应答而言最关键的抗原特异性受体：模式识别受体，B细胞受体和T细胞受体。这些受体及其配体的知识在疫苗学领域变得格外有价值，如今，可以对PBV结构进行从一级到四级的大幅修饰，以促进对靶表位的识别，增强疫苗的免疫原性并预防抗原相关并发症。另外，这些修饰使得可以通过调节稳定性并将PBV靶向关键免疫细胞来控制免疫反应。因此，将来在设计PBV时应仔细考虑蛋白质结构，以增强PBV的功效。