A recombinant vector
vaccine uses an attenuated virus, bacterium, or parasite as the carrier to express a
heterologous antigen(s). Many
recombinant vaccine vectors and related
vaccines have been developed and extensively investigated. To compare and better understand recombinant vectors and
vaccines, we have generated Vaxvec (http://www.violinet.org/vaxvec), the first web-based database that stores various
recombinant vaccine vectors and those experimentally verified
vaccines that use these vectors. Vaxvec has now included 59
vaccine vectors that have been used in 196 recombinant vector
vaccines against 66 pathogens and
cancers. These vectors are classified to 41 viral vectors, 15 bacterial vectors, 1 parasitic vector, and 1 fungal vector. The most commonly used
viral vaccine vectors are
double-stranded DNA viruses, including herpesviruses, adenoviruses, and poxviruses. For example, Vaxvec includes 63 poxvirus-based
recombinant vaccines for over 20 pathogens and
cancers. Vaxvec collects 30 recombinant vector
influenza vaccines that use 17 recombinant vectors and were experimentally tested in 7 animal models. In addition, over 60 protective
antigens used in recombinant vector
vaccines are annotated and analyzed. User-friendly web-interfaces are available for querying various data in Vaxvec. To support data exchange, the information of
vaccine vectors,
vaccines, and related information is stored in the
Vaccine Ontology (VO). Vaxvec is a timely and vital source of
vaccine vector database and facilitates efficient
vaccine vector research and development.