Biomaterial Database

Vaccine adjuvants: role and mechanisms of action in vaccine immunogenicity. 2003

Dante J Marciani

Galenica Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 2800 Milan Court, Suite 118, Birmingham, Alabama 35211, USA. marciani.gpi@att.net

Inactivated vaccines require adjuvants to stimulate an immune response. The choice of adjuvant or immune enhancer determines whether the immune response is effective, ineffective or damaging. Accordingly, there is a need for new adjuvants that stimulate the appropriate immunity, for example, T cell immunity for intracellular pathogens and cancer vaccines. In several adjuvants, the identification of chemical groups that interact with specific cell toll-like receptors (innate immunity) or receptors for co-stimulatory ligands (adaptive immunity), has enabled the establishment of structure-function relationships that are useful in the design of new adjuvants. Because of the crucial immunomodulating role of adjuvants, sub-unit vaccine development will remain dependent on new adjuvants.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007110	Immunity, Active	Resistance to a disease agent resulting from the production of specific antibodies by the host, either after exposure to the disease or after vaccination.	Active Immune Response,Active Immune Responses,Active Immunities,Active Immunity,Immune Response, Active,Immune Responses, Active,Immunities, Active,Response, Active Immune,Responses, Active Immune
D007113	Immunity, Innate	The capacity of a normal organism to remain unaffected by microorganisms and their toxins. It results from the presence of naturally occurring ANTI-INFECTIVE AGENTS, constitutional factors such as BODY TEMPERATURE and immediate acting immune cells such as NATURAL KILLER CELLS.	Immunity, Native,Immunity, Natural,Immunity, Non-Specific,Resistance, Natural,Innate Immune Response,Innate Immunity,Immune Response, Innate,Immune Responses, Innate,Immunity, Non Specific,Innate Immune Responses,Native Immunity,Natural Immunity,Natural Resistance,Non-Specific Immunity
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000276	Adjuvants, Immunologic	Substances that augment, stimulate, activate, potentiate, or modulate the immune response at either the cellular or humoral level. The classical agents (Freund's adjuvant, BCG, Corynebacterium parvum, et al.) contain bacterial antigens. Some are endogenous (e.g., histamine, interferon, transfer factor, tuftsin, interleukin-1). Their mode of action is either non-specific, resulting in increased immune responsiveness to a wide variety of antigens, or antigen-specific, i.e., affecting a restricted type of immune response to a narrow group of antigens. The therapeutic efficacy of many biological response modifiers is related to their antigen-specific immunoadjuvanticity.	Immunoactivators,Immunoadjuvant,Immunoadjuvants,Immunologic Adjuvant,Immunopotentiator,Immunopotentiators,Immunostimulant,Immunostimulants,Adjuvant, Immunologic,Adjuvants, Immunological,Immunologic Adjuvants,Immunological Adjuvant,Adjuvant, Immunological,Immunological Adjuvants
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D013329	Structure-Activity Relationship	The relationship between the chemical structure of a compound and its biological or pharmacological activity. Compounds are often classed together because they have structural characteristics in common including shape, size, stereochemical arrangement, and distribution of functional groups.	Relationship, Structure-Activity,Relationships, Structure-Activity,Structure Activity Relationship,Structure-Activity Relationships
D013678	Technology, Pharmaceutical	The application of scientific knowledge or technology to pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry. It includes methods, techniques, and instrumentation in the manufacture, preparation, compounding, dispensing, packaging, and storing of drugs and other preparations used in diagnostic and determinative procedures, and in the treatment of patients.	Technology, Pharmacy,Pharmaceutic Technology,Pharmaceutical Technology,Pharmacy Technology,Technology, Pharmaceutic
D014612	Vaccines	Suspensions of killed or attenuated microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa), antigenic proteins, synthetic constructs, or other bio-molecular derivatives, administered for the prevention, amelioration, or treatment of infectious and other diseases.	Vaccine
D015195	Drug Design	The molecular designing of drugs for specific purposes (such as DNA-binding, enzyme inhibition, anti-cancer efficacy, etc.) based on knowledge of molecular properties such as activity of functional groups, molecular geometry, and electronic structure, and also on information cataloged on analogous molecules. Drug design is generally computer-assisted molecular modeling and does not include PHARMACOKINETICS, dosage analysis, or drug administration analysis.	Computer-Aided Drug Design,Computerized Drug Design,Drug Modeling,Pharmaceutical Design,Computer Aided Drug Design,Computer-Aided Drug Designs,Computerized Drug Designs,Design, Pharmaceutical,Drug Design, Computer-Aided,Drug Design, Computerized,Drug Designs,Drug Modelings,Pharmaceutical Designs