Novel approaches to hepatitis B vaccine development

Abstract

Rapid advances have been made recently in molecular biology, recombinant DNA technology, in the understanding of immunological mechanisms and in the production and application of monoclonal antibodies. The chemical synthesis of oligopeptides has been simplified and computer programmes and crystallography are facilitating the determination of the three-dimensional structure of proteins, so that the location of important antigenic determinants or epitopes can be predicted. These techniques have opened the way to the development and production of new vaccines against infections for which vaccines are not available and the improvement of existing vaccines. The new approaches to vaccine development are of particular value where microorganisms cannot be cultivated by exisiting methods, as in the case of hepatitis B virus, or where highly pathogenic and infectious agents are involved so that their cultivation carries a risk to health. Hepatitis B is described below as an example since vaccines against this infection have been developed by recombinant DNA technology and chemically synthetic preparations are at an advanced stage of production.