Biomaterial Database

Immunological adjuvants: a role for liposomes. 1990

G Gregoriadis

School of Pharmacy, University of London, UK.

Recent technological advances have resulted in the production of safe subunit and synthetic small peptide vaccines. These vaccines are weakly or non-immunogenic and cannot, therefore, be used effectively in the absence of immunological adjuvants (agents that can induce strong immunity to antigens). Owing to the toxicity of adjuvants, only one (aluminium salts) has hitherto been licensed for use in humans, and it is far from ideal. In this article, Gregory Gregoriadis discusses the use of liposomes as an alternative safe, versatile, universal adjuvant that can induce humoral- and cell-mediated immunity to antigens when administered parenterally or enterally.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007109	Immunity	Nonsusceptibility to the invasive or pathogenic effects of foreign microorganisms or to the toxic effect of antigenic substances.	Immune Process,Immune Response,Immune Processes,Immune Responses,Process, Immune,Response, Immune
D008081	Liposomes	Artificial, single or multilaminar vesicles (made from lecithins or other lipids) that are used for the delivery of a variety of biological molecules or molecular complexes to cells, for example, drug delivery and gene transfer. They are also used to study membranes and membrane proteins.	Niosomes,Transferosomes,Ultradeformable Liposomes,Liposomes, Ultra-deformable,Liposome,Liposome, Ultra-deformable,Liposome, Ultradeformable,Liposomes, Ultra deformable,Liposomes, Ultradeformable,Niosome,Transferosome,Ultra-deformable Liposome,Ultra-deformable Liposomes,Ultradeformable Liposome
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
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
D014614	Vaccines, Synthetic	Small synthetic peptides that mimic surface antigens of pathogens and are immunogenic, or vaccines manufactured with the aid of recombinant DNA techniques. The latter vaccines may also be whole viruses whose nucleic acids have been modified.	Antigens, Synthetic,Chemical Vaccine,Chemical Vaccines,Immunogens, Synthetic,Molecular Vaccine,Molecular Vaccines,Recombinant Vaccine,Semisynthetic Vaccine,Semisynthetic Vaccines,Synthetic Antigen,Synthetic Vaccine,Synthetic Vaccines,Vaccines, Recombinant,Synthetic Antigens,Synthetic Immunogens,Vaccines, Chemical,Vaccines, Molecular,Vaccines, Semisynthetic,Antigen, Synthetic,Recombinant Vaccines,Vaccine, Chemical,Vaccine, Molecular,Vaccine, Recombinant,Vaccine, Semisynthetic,Vaccine, Synthetic
D015394	Molecular Structure	The location of the atoms, groups or ions relative to one another in a molecule, as well as the number, type and location of covalent bonds.	Structure, Molecular,Molecular Structures,Structures, Molecular