Dear Reader,
In its 9th year of publication, Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics (HV&I) has become a respected and valuable publication forum in the field of vaccinology and immunotherapy. A steadily growing number of researchers and physicians choose HV&I to publish their results, and we are pleased to collaborate with various conference organizers to produce Meeting Supplements based on vaccine and/or immunotherapy conferences.
Two years ago we published a Meeting Supplement based on the 7thWorld Congress on Vaccines, Immunisation and Immunotherapy (WCVII) (www.landesbioscience.com/journals/vaccines/toc/volume/7/issue/0/).
We are pleased to do so again for the recent 8th WCVII in this current issue. Dr. Edouard Kurstak, President of the WCVII and of the Infections Control World Organization (ICWO), has kindly served as Guest Editor for this Supplement.
In the current Meeting Supplement you will find 35 selected papers prepared by speakers of the WCVII 2012. The manuscripts fall into three categories: (I) Towards new vaccines, immunization strategy and immunotherapy; (II) Advances in epidemiological analysis and immunization research; (III) Vaccines effectiveness, cost, economic benefits and risk factors.
In his editorial introduction, Dr. Kurstak provides a brief overview on the conference, which is devoted to developing new immunogenic and safe vaccines, and is an excellent forum for presenting the latest research and lively discussions (Kurstak, p.449).
The first part of our Special Issue—Towards New Vaccines, Immunization Strategy and Immunotherapy—features three review articles on murine infection models for vaccine development (Matuschewski, p. 450), multivalent recombinant vaccines (Naim, p. 457) and different retroviral transmembrane envelope proteins for immunization (Denner, p. 462). Candidate vaccines against various bacterial pathogens are studied, including a meningococcal Group B vaccine (Anderson, et al., p. 471), a multi-component Staphylococcus aureus vaccine consisting of capsular polysaccharide antigens (Nanra, et al., p. 480), a Group A streptococcal peptide vaccine (Caro-Aguilar, et al., p. 488), potential candidate antigens for a Klebsiella pneumoniae vaccine (Lundberg, et al., p. 497), and immune responses to a Pseudomonas aeruginosa vaccine candidate (Moore, et al., p. 506). Two studies examine a novel DNA vaccine against tuberculosis (Okada, et al., p. 515 and Kita, et al., p. 526). Other papers in this section are related to studying immunotherapy in a mouse model for HPV-related oral tumors (Paolini, et al., p. 534), and plant-produced vaccines against Anthrax (Chichester, et al., p. 544) and H1N1 (Shoji, et al., p. 553).
The second part of our Special Issue—Advances in epidemiological analysis and immunization research—features studies on influenza epidemiology after the 2009-2010 pandemic (Gasparini, et al., p. 561), epidemiology of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) variants (Sticchi, et al., p. 568), the use of a novel cationic adjuvant with Neisseria lactamica antigens (Gaspar, et al., p. 572), as well as a review article on strategies to enhance cross-protection of plain influenza vaccines (Orsi, et al., p. 582). A number of papers deal with viral vaccines, such as comparison of an intradermal and a virosome influenza vaccine (Ansaldi, et al., p. 591), relevance of pre-existing measles immunity for immunization with recombinant measles virus vector (Knuchel, et al., p. 599), and a clinically approved novel measles virus vaccine vector (Zuniga, et al. p. 607). The rationale and perspective for implementation of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) is discussed (Ansaldi, et al. p. 614), as well as the suitability of vaccination models for determining potential beneficial health effects of probiotics (West, et al. p. 621). Furthermore, this section features studies on immune recognition of the nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae outer membrane protein 26 (Kunthalert, et al. p. 625), sero-epidemiology of hepatitis B markers (Boccalini, et al. p. 636), results of the rubella elimination program in Catalonia, Spain (Barrabeig, et al. p. 642), and a review on progress in eliminating measles and congenital rubella in Central Italy (Bechini, et al., p. 649). Finally, in this category we have several papers related to surveillance, such as post-pandemic influenza viruses in Northern Italy (Pariani, et al. p. 657), pertussis in Catalonia, Spain (Crespo Fernández, et al., p. 667), and the influenza sentinel surveillance network (Torner, et al., p. 671), as well as two papers on the epidemiology of measles outbreaks (Torner, et al., p. 675) and vaccine-preventable diseases in the era of conjugate vaccines (Ciruela, et al., p. 681) in Catalonia.
The third part of this Special Issue—Vaccines effectiveness, cost, economic benefits and risk factors—features four papers looking at effectiveness of an oral cholera vaccine in preventing traveler’s diarrhea (López-Gigosos, et al., p. 692), cost-effectiveness of adult pneumococcal vaccination (Boccalini, et al., p. 699), economic benefits of seasonal influenza vaccination in children (Salleras, et al., p. 707), and risk factors for the most common serotypes of invasive pneumococcal disease (Ciruela, et al., p. 712).
As usual, the WCVII 2012 has covered a lot of ground, which is well reflected in the diversity of contributions in this Meeting Supplement. We see this Special Issue as a valuable summary and source of information for delegates of this congress, and even more importantly for researchers and vaccine experts who did not attend this meeting.
Sincerely,
Ronald Ellis PhD
Editor-in-Chief
Eva M. Riedmann PhD
Acquisitions Editor