Recent advances in veterinary vaccine adjuvants

Next generation veterinary vaccines are going to mainly comprise of either subunit or inactivated bacteria/viruses. These vaccines would require optimal adjuvants and delivery systems to accord long-term protection from infectious diseases in animals. There is an urgent need for the development of new and improved veterinary and human vaccine adjuvants. Adjuvants can be broadly divided into two classes, based on their principal mechanisms of action: vaccine delivery systems and 'immunostimulatory adjuvants'. Vaccine delivery systems are generally particulate e.g. emulsions, microparticles, ISCOMS and liposomes, and mainly function to target associated antigens into antigen presenting cells (APC). In contrast, immunostimulatory adjuvants are predominantly derived from pathogens and often represent pathogen associated molecular patterns, e.g. LPS, MPL and CpG DNA, which activate cells of the innate immune system. Recent progress in innate immunity is beginning to yield insight into the initiation of immune responses and the ways in which immunostimulatory adjuvants might enhance this process in animals and humans alike.