The clinical use of adjuvants in pneumococcal vaccination: Current status and future perspectives

Abstract

Streptococcus pneumoniae is one most prevalent bacterial infectious organism with a major effect on public health in both industrialized and developing countries.^{1, 2} Streptococcus pneumoniae mainly causes disease at the extremities of ages, in the very young (< 2 yrs) and in the elderly (> 65 yrs).^2-4 Ninety-one different capsular serotypes can cause pneumococcal disease such as pneumonia, sepsis, or meningitis, and pneumococcal infections kill more people than all other vaccine-preventable diseases combined.^{3, 5, 6} In developing countries, one out of six childhood deaths is attributed to pneumococcal infections.⁷ Currently licensed vaccines are based on capsular polysaccharides that induce immune protection primarily via opsonophagocytic antibodies.