Exploiting viral properties for the rational design of modern vaccines

Abstract

A major challenge for the future is the development of effective vaccines against chronic infections and the application of therapeutic immunization to the treatment of noninfectious diseases, such as cancer, allergy and autoimmune disorders. In recent years, many of the immunological principles governing the immune response to infectious agents have been clarified and can now be exploited for the rational design of new and better vaccines. As an elucidative example, this review will describe the key immunogenic determinants of viruses and discuss how they can be harnessed for the development of tailor-made vaccines against a wide array of human diseases.

Keywords::

• particulate vaccines
• pathogen-associated molecular patterns
• repetitive antigen display
• self antigen
• Toll-like receptor
• vaccine-delivery system
• viral infection
• virus-like particle

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Gary T Jennings for critical reading of the manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors are employees and hold stocks or stock options of Cytos Biotechnology. In addition they are co-inventors of several related patent applications. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.