Dear Reader,
In the current issue we are pleased to present four articles related to HPV: efficacy data for the HPV-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine (Cervarix) against intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical infection in Japanese women (Konno, p. 1781), immunogenicity and safety of Cervarix in Chinese girls and women (Zhu, p. 1795), effects of the family decision-making process on HPV vaccination rates among adolescents (Berenson, p. 1807), and presence and prevention strategies of HPV-related cancers in the Middle East and north Africa (Al Moustafa, p. 1812).
Three contributions related to Cancer discuss dendritic cell immunotherapy in uterine cancer (Coosemans, p. 1822), awareness and understanding of cancer immunotherapy in Europe (Mellstedt, p. 1828), and methionine encephalin improving lymphocyte subpopulations in human peripheral blood of cancer patients by inhibiting regulatory T cells (Wang, p. 1836).
The Pneumococcal section includes studies on the cost-effectiveness of infant vaccination in Dutch children (Vemer, p. 1841), immunogenicity and safety of the 13-valent conjugate vaccine in healthy Japanese adults (Shiramoto, p. 1850), immunogenicity and safety of 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine as a booster in children primed with 7-valent conjugate vaccine (Thisyakorn, p. 1859), and changing trends in serotype distribution and antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae causing invasive diseases in central Thailand (Phongsamart, p. 1866).
Several articles in this issue are about Novel Vaccines, including studies on pentavalent replicon-based vaccines against botulinum neurotoxins and tetanus toxin (Yu, p. 1874), and immunomodulatory effects of recombinant BCG expressing MSP-1C of Plasmodium falciparum on LPS- or LPS+IFNγ-stimulated cells (Mohamad, p. 1880). A review on laser-based vaccine adjuvantation (Kashiwagi, p. 1892), a commentary on engineered PRINT nanoparticles for controlled delivery of antigens and immunostimulants (Beletskii, p. 1908), and a short report on optimizing the production process of a hookworm vaccine recombinant protein candidate Na-GST-1 (Curti, p. 1914) also can be found in this section. Finally, this track offers a book review on Gene Vaccines (Ugen, p. 1926) and a commentary on the need for a Hepatitis C vaccine (Verma, p. 1927).
The section on Influenza features articles on uptake, barriers and enablers of annual influenza vaccination among Australian students (Kelly, p. 1930), rapid vaccine design and development based on correlates of protection (van Els, p. 1935), optimal designs of an HA-based DNA vaccine against H7 subtype influenza viruses (Zhang, p. 1949), safety and immunogenicity of an AS03-adjuvanted trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in children (Carmona Martinez, p. 1959), and a case report describing acute disseminated encephalomyelitis with severe neurological outcomes following virosomal seasonal influenza vaccination (Alicino, p. 1969).
A review on the effect of race / ethnicity on participation in HIV vaccine trials (Dhalla, p. 1974), and a study on the role of follicular helper T cells and the germinal centers in HIV-1 gp120 DNA prime and protein boost vaccination (Hollister, p. 1985) are presented in the HIV section.
Two studies in our Meningococcal track present data from a randomized Phase 2 clinical trial of a multicomponent serogroup B vaccine vaccine, investigating the effects of prophylactic paracetamol on immunogenicity and reactogenicity of routine infant vaccines and 4CMenB (Prymula, p. 1993), and the effects of variations of the OMV and protein content on immunogenicity and reactogenicity (Esposito, p. 2005).
The section on Immunotherapy contains two studies on oral delivery of Brucella spp. recombinant protein U-Omp 16 abrogating IgE-mediated milk allergy (Smaldini, p. 2015), and vaccination-induced changes in pro-inflammatory cytokine levels as biomarkers for cognitive improvement in a transgenic mouse model for Alzheimer disease (Lin, p. 2024).
Two studies are related to Rotavirus, looking at public health impact of accelerated immunization against rotavirus infection among children under 6 months of age in the US (Weycker, p. 2032), and immune responses elicited against rotavirus middle layer protein VP6 inhibiting viral replication (Lappalainen, p. 2039).
In the category Licensed Vaccines we have five articles, including a review on cost-effectiveness of vaccination against herpes zoster (de Boer, p. 2048), studies on the effectiveness and impact of pentavalent vaccination programs in India and other south Asian countries (Sreedhar, p. 2062), relationship of immunogenicity to protective potency in acellular pertussis vaccines (Xing, p. 2066), investigations in a murine model of possible mechanisms of enhanced local reactions to post-primary diphtheria-tetanus toxoid boosters in recipients of acellular pertussis-diphtheria-tetanus vaccine (Ochiai, p. 2074), and a case report on probable disseminated BCG infection in a 10-month-old child after BCG vaccination (Zaïem, p. 2081).
This issue further features a review in the section Target Populations, discussing premature B-cell senescence as a consequence of chronic immune activation and implications for vaccination of immune compromised individuals (Palma, p. 2083), a study in the Hepatitis section looking at immunogenicity and safety of a pediatric dose of a virosomal hepatitis A vaccine in healthy children in India (Jain, p. 2089), and a research paper in the section Acceptance investigating influenza vaccine hesitancy in a low-income community in central New York State (Suryadevara, p. 2098).
In Human Vaccines & Immunotherapies we regularly publish Conference Specials, where we ask speakers/presenters of important meetings in the field of vaccines and immunotherapies to submit a paper on their recent research to HV&I. These contributions are published as a group to summarize the most important aspects of the meeting. In the current issue, we are pleased to feature a selection of reviews, written by speakers of the 24th National Immunisation Conference for Health Care Workers (NIC24), held in December 2013 at the Manchester Conference Centre in UK. This Conference Special is introduced with an overview on NIC24 (Guppy, p. 2104) and contains seven reviews: the polio endgame (Minor, p. 2106), HPV vaccination in boys and men (Stanley, p. 2109), mucosal immunity and acute viral gastroenteritis using the example of rotavirus (Rose, p. 2112), mucosal immunization and pediatric influenza vaccines (Rose, p. 2115), concepts and challenges of antenatal immunisation (Jones, p. 2118), active and passive immunization for cancer (Baxter, p. 2123), and health literacy (Rowlands, p. 2130).
If you are the organizer of a conference related to vaccines or immunotherapy and you are interested in collaborating with HV&I for such Special Feature, please contact the Acquisitions Editor Eva Riedmann ([email protected]).
Our usual 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 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. In the current issue we are pleased to present the portrait of Dr Michael Hanna, founder, Chairman and CEO of Vaccinogen.
The company is a pioneer in the field of cancer vaccines and is developing OncoVAX, an autologous vaccine designed to elicit a specific immune response against cancer cells. In his essay, Dr Hanna tells about his career and longstanding interest in cancer vaccine development, and shares his extensive experience and accomplishments in this hot field of research.
Please contact Eva Riedmann with your ideas for commentaries, opinion pieces, profiles and portraits. Your suggestions for and contributions to our N&P&P track are always welcome!
Last but not least, we want to draw your attention to several popular web site features, which are usuable on all electronic devices, such as mobile phones and tablets, 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