MenDeVAR

MenDeVAR assesses meningococcal vaccine antigen variants and their predicted immunological cross-reactivity from whole-genome or individual gene sequences to inform vaccine reactivity for serogroup B invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) management.

Key Features:

• Integration of genomic and experimental data: Synthesizes genomic sequences with experimental findings from published sources to assess antigen variant reactivity.
• Input data types: Processes whole-genome sequences and individual gene sequences from IMD isolates or clinical specimens.
• Identification of vaccine antigen variants and cross-reactivity: Identifies specific meningococcal vaccine antigen variants and evaluates their immunological cross-reactivity.
• Assessment of antigen expression levels: Incorporates information on antigen expression levels to inform predictions of vaccine effectiveness.
• Estimation of susceptibility to antibody-dependent bactericidal killing: Estimates the likelihood that antigen variants will be neutralized by antibody-dependent bactericidal killing based on curated and experimental data.

Scientific Applications:

• IMD outbreak vaccine selection: Aids vaccine selection decisions during serogroup B IMD outbreaks by assessing antigen variant presence and predicted reactivity.
• Characterization of vaccine antigen variants: Identifies and catalogs vaccine antigen variants within meningococcal isolates for surveillance and comparative analyses.
• Informing vaccine efficacy predictions: Combines antigen expression and cross-reactivity data to estimate susceptibility to antibody-dependent bactericidal killing and support evidence-based vaccine efficacy assessments.

Methodology:

Processes whole-genome sequences or individual gene sequences from IMD isolates or clinical specimens and integrates these data with curated information on meningococcal genome diversity and provenance to generate evidence-based assessments of vaccine antigen reactivity.