Dear reader,
We begin this issue of Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics with four articles on Immunotherapy, including a meta-analysis of tuberculosis immunotherapy efficacy studies (Huang, p 1960), a product review of anti-IL-6R MAb tocilizumab (Sheppard, p 1972), analysis of HBsAg-HBIG therapeutic vaccine in chronic hepatitis B patients (Zhou, p 1989), and a commentary on Modified Vaccinia Ankara-based vaccines in the era of personalized cancer immunotherapy (Bendjama, p 1997).
The Licensed Vaccines section offers four research articles on long-term immunogenicity of 4-valent dengue vaccine (Vigne, p 2004), the prospect of typhoid fever vaccine introduction in endemic countries (Mogasale, p 2017), safety and immunogenicity of two tetravalent DTwP-Hib vaccines, Quadrovax and the newly developed Easyfour-TT (Mohanty, p 2025), safety and immunogenicity of a live varicella vaccine (Bio Pox) in children (Dubey, p 2032), and a commentary on the timing of infant measles immunization (Liu, p 2038).
Three research articles on Influenza report on costs associated with influenza A and B in the US (Yan, p 2041), immunogenicity of four vaccines in older adults (Kumar, p 2048), and safety and immunogenicity of a 4-valent vaccine in subjects aged ≥65 years (Greenberg, p 2058).
Next, we present two research articles on Pneumococcal vaccines: safety and immunogenicity analysis of PCV-13 in Indian adults (Solanki, p 2065) and a report on the influenza and pneumococcal vaccination status of hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia (Demirdogen Cetinoglu, p 2072).
The Novel Vaccines section features a phase 1 clinical trial of Ad5-EBOV Ebola vaccine in Africans in China (Wu, p 2078), a brief report on the peptidoglycan synthase MraY-targeting antibacterial MAbs (Cao, p 2086), and commentaries on BCG-vectored RSV vaccine (Rey-Jurado, p 2092) and the development of the RTS, S/AS01 malaria vaccine (Mahmoudi, p 2098).
Two Public Health articles report on coverage of routine vaccinations in Israeli children (Stein-Zamir, p 2102) and children who have not received a polio vaccine in Nigeria (Uthman, p 2111), and three Technology articles include a clinical study of the deltoid muscle as a novel site and new development for intramuscular vaccination (Nakajima, p 2123), a commentary on the adjuvant properties of blood from vaccine-primed subjects (Hakimi, p 2130) and a book review of “Advanced Vaccine Research Methods for the Decade of Vaccines” (Garcia-Lara, p 2135).
We introduce a product review of palivizumab for Passive Immunization against RSV (Resch, p 2138), analysis of the relationship between maternal experiences and adolescent HPV immunization (Berenson, p 2150), and a survey among parents of children hospitalized due to Rotavirus gastroenteritis (Marchetti, p 2155).
We are delighted to present a special focus on Challenges in Vaccine and Immunotherapy Clinical Trials. This section features important thoughts and considerations by experienced clinical scientists, which might be useful to the community in overcoming challenges in clinical trial designs and implications. In particular, this section reviews ethical aspects of vaccine trials (Molyneux, p 2160), standard of care in immunotherapy trials (Rivalland, p 2164), and the designs of the two types of trials and what can be learned from the differences (Simon, p 2179). A research article presents data on communicating information to parents of children who participated in a clinical trial in Gambia (Mboizi, p 2185). Finally, Grenham (p 2192) reviews the specific challenges of clinical trials in low- and middle-income settings.
Our monthly News, Policy and Profiles (NP&P) track offers a selection of the latest news in the field of vaccines and immunotherapeutics. In this section we also regularly publish opinion pieces on timely, interesting and controversial topics related to vaccines and immunotherapeutics, profiles of companies and organizations, as well as portraits of distinguished scientists in our field. Please contact Acquisitions Editor Adam Weiss ([email protected]) with your ideas for commentaries, opinion pieces, profiles and portraits. Your suggestions for and contributions to our N&P&P track are always welcome!
Sincerely,
Ronald Ellis, PhD Editor-in-Chief
Adam Weiss, PhD Acquisitions Editor