[Persistent microbial infection and therapeutic vaccine]

Microbial persistent infection usually occurs due to invasion of the immune system, microbial genomic mutation or integration of microbial DNA with host chromosomal DNA. Defective host immune responses or immune tolerance are also related to persistent infection. Therapeutic vaccine is aimed at inducing specific humoral and cellular immune responses to terminate microbial persistent infection or to prevent progression of diseases. Different categories of therapeutic vaccines have been presented and the prospect of research as well as the development of novel effective therapeutic vaccines are discussed.