Vaccine adjuvants: preparation methods and research protocols edited by Derek O'Hagan, humana press

Abstract

The ‘new generation’ of vaccines rely on recombinant proteins, synthetic peptides and DNA to prevent infectious diseases, cancer, fertility, allergies and autoimmune diseases. However, they are often poorly immunogenic on their own and are increasingly dependent on adjuvants for enhanced humoral and cellular immunogenicity. Vaccine Adjuvants: Preparation Methods and Research Protocols is a textbook designed to help vaccine researchers to select and prepare optimal formulations of vaccine antigens and adjuvants.Increased scientific understanding of the immune correlates of protection and of the interplay between immune cells (antigen-presenting cells, T and B cells), cytokines and chemokines that controls the type of vaccine-induced immune responses have placed more stringent requirements on the impact of adjuvant formulations. In addition to a requirement for the ‘type’ of immunity generated (e.g. neutralizing antibody, cytotoxic T cells), there is increasing need to target these immune responses to specific mucosal sites (e.g. respiratory, intestinal, genital tracts) for protection from mucosally transmitted pathogens.Extensive preclinical evaluation of various adjuvant formulations in small animals and non-human primates are conducted in order to select the best adjuvants for progression to clinical testing. For this reason, it is extremely important to remove laboratory-specific variations in the efficiency and optimization of various adjuvant formulations. This book has a primary objective of providing detailed protocols to enable individual scientists to prepare optimized adjuvant formulations, thereby facilitating interlaboratory consistency.This book takes several steps to reach these goals. Each chapter is devoted to a specific adjuvant currently undergoing preclinical or, in some cases, clinical evaluation. The authors (often the scientists who developed the adjuvant) provide a brief history of the adjuvant and then describe its composition, discuss its mechanism of action, metabolic degradation and reactogenicity profiles (animal and/or human), and provide brief reviews and references to preclinical and/or clinical studies.In some cases, additional information is included about the stability of the adjuvant formulation, its potency (duration and number of immunizations), utility via alternate routes of immunization, cost of production, ease of use, ease of production on a large scale (particularly with respect to various global vaccine initiatives that target millions), safety concerns and regulatory issues. Most important, however, are the detailed descriptions of and notes about the materials required and methods used to preparate the adjuvant, and to prepare the antigen–adjuvant formulation. Importantly, in most chapters, suggestions and detailed descriptions are included of various quality-control procedures to ensure the success and efficiency of the formulation.Although the book targets the major adjuvants in preclinical and clinical evaluation, the chapters do vary in quality and in their focus on laboratory materials and methods. This text is an excellent companion to previous books such as Vaccine Design: The Subunit and Adjuvant Approach (Powell, M. and Newman, M., eds), which provided detailed descriptions and summaries of preclinical and clinical experiences of over 100 adjuvants but no detailed protocols for their preparation. The detailed protocols and extremely helpful notes in this book will provide scientists with the internal information to optimize their use of these adjuvants with their antigens of interest. For these reasons, I would recommend this book for those involved in enhancing and/or specifically targeting humoral or cellular vaccine-induced immune responses.