From mice to humans - murine intelligence for human CD8+ T cell vaccine design

There has been considerable progress in the design of vaccines capable of safely and effectively inducing CD8(+) T cells for prophylaxis and treatment of chronic infectious diseases and cancer. Much of what is known about CD8(+) T cell-mediated immunity has come from pioneering work in mice; this broad overview discusses recent work in mouse systems where lessons may be drawn for human vaccine development. The areas highlighted include antivector immunity, immunodominance, dendritic cell biology and targeting, the role of Toll-like receptors and their exploitation by novel adjuvants, the role of CD4(+) T cell help, regulatory T cells and, finally, some comments on the different requirements of prophylactic versus therapeutic vaccines.