SEARCHING FOR IMMORTALITY
Abstract
In
the twentieth century vaccine development has moved from the use of
attenuated or killed micro-organisms to protein sub-unit vaccines, with
vaccine immunogenicity assessed by measuring antibodies induced by
vaccination. However, for many infectious diseases T cells are an
important part of naturally acquired protective immune responses, and
inducing these by vaccination has been the aim of much research. The
progress that has been made in developing effective T-cell-inducing
vaccines against viral and parasitic diseases such as HIV and malaria is
discussed, along with recent developments in therapeutic vaccine
development for chronic viral infections and cancer. Although many ways
of inducing T cells by vaccination have been assessed, the majority
result in low level, non-protective responses. Sufficient clinical
research has now been conducted to establish that replication-deficient
viral vectored vaccines lead the field in inducing strong and broad
responses, and efficacy studies of T-cell-inducing vaccines against a
number of diseases are finally demonstrating that this is a valid
approach to filling the gaps in our defence against not only infectious
disease, but some forms of cancer.
© 2011 The Author. Immunology © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
© 2011 The Author. Immunology © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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