Dear Reader,
The current issue features six contributions related to Immunotherapy. A study on the effect of neutral Ginseng polysaccharides on murine bone marrow dendritic cells (DCs) (Meng, p. 233), the use of a one-replicon vector to simultaneously co-express antigen and adjuvant (Ma, p. 242), and the influence of intradermal application of vitamin D3 on DCs and regulatory T-cells (Bakdash, p. 250) are presented. Two commentaries discuss the generation of DC vaccines (Radford, p. 259) and mRNA as an off-the-shelf therapeutic (Van Lint, p. 265). Finally, this section contains a letter on autologous heat-shock protein vaccines (Colaco, p. 275). In the rubric New Targets, we feature research papers on yellow fever vaccination in people over 60 y (Takesaki Miyaji, p. 277) and TLR9 adjuvants with SE36/AHG malaria vaccine in nonhuman primates (Tougan, p. 283), as well as commentaries on the development of a Toxoplasma gondii vaccine (Verma, p. 291) and the idea of developing novel pharmaceutical products in tandem with their prospective antidotes in anticipation of possible adverse events (Caoili, p. 294). Three papers on HPV deal with vaccine uptake among female higher-education students in Greece (Donadiki, p. 300), correlation of comfort with alternative settings for vaccine delivery (McRee, p. 306) and systemic and mucosal HPV-specific antibody responses after vaccination (Scherpenisse, p. 314). Four papers are related to Pertussis: a case report on B. pertussis infection in a child with completed primary vaccination (Shankar, p. 322), a CpG-containing oligodeoxynucleotide adjuvant for acellular pertussis vaccine (Asokanathan, p. 325), a confocal microscopy study of the effects of pertussis toxin and toxoids on CHO-cells (Tan, p. 332), and an improved whole-cell vaccine with reduced endotoxin content (Oliveira Dias, p. 339). A wide range of papers fall in the category Licensed Vaccines: a systemic review of trials conducted to increase seasonal influenza vaccination rates among health care workers (Schmidt, p. 349), recommendations for tick-borne encephalitis vaccination from the Central European Vaccination Awareness Group (Zavadska, p. 362), seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus in Mexico and implications for hepatitis A vaccination (Lazcano-Ponce, p. 375), safety and immunogenicity of a booster dose of the 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine Synflorix (Dicko, p. 382), compliance with rotavirus vaccination guidelines in the US (Eisenberg, p. 389), comparison of serologic responses to primary vaccination with 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine versus 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in HIV infected patients (Lu, p. 398), and a commentary on correlates of protection for influenza virus (Cox, p. 405). The rubric Technologies features a short report on archaeosomes as adjuvants for a vaccine against Chagas disease (Higa, p. 409), and a study on developing a Vero cell DNA reference standard for residual DNA measurement (Cao, p. 413). One study for Clinical Issues assesses the potential for implementation of HIV vaccine trials in hard-to-reach female sex workers in Spain (Etcheverry, p. 420).
Furthermore, this issue features a small Special Focus on Vaccine Hesitancy. One study looked at the relative importance of attitudinal barriers to MMR vaccination among vaccine-hesitant parents with differing levels of MMR vaccine-hesitancy (Gowda, p. 430). A second study tested the effects of individually tailored education for MMR vaccine-hesitant parents on intent to vaccinate with MMR (Gowda, p. 437).
Our regular monthly News, Policy & Profiles (NP&P) section provides you with a selection of the latest news in the field of vaccines and immunotherapeutics. In our NP&P track, we are also pleased to present the French biopharmaceutical company Transgene. This company designs and develops immunotherapeutics to treat cancers and chronic infectious diseases. Dr Philippe Archinard, the company’s President and CEO, has kindly agreed to answer our questions. If you would like to see your company / organization featured in a future issue of HV&I, please contact the Acquisitions Editor Eva Riedmann ([email protected]). Our NP&P track is also an excellent platform to share your opinion on timely, interesting and controversial topics in the field of vaccines and/or immunotherapy. Please contact us with your ideas for a commentary.
Finally, we want to draw your attention to several popular web site features, including an iPad application that allows you to read the full issue of HV&I anywhere, just as you would the print issue, an RSS feed to see the latest published papers, and a HV&I Facebook account for daily updates.
Sincerely,
Ronald Ellis PhD,
Editor-in-Chief
Eva M. Riedmann PhD,
Acquisitions Editor