Immune modulators with defined molecular targets: cornerstone to optimize rational vaccine design

Area of Science:

• Vaccinology and immunology
• Infectious disease prevention

Background:

• Vaccines are vital for preventing infectious diseases, but many require improved performance or are unavailable for certain diseases.
• Subunit vaccines offer improved safety but often lack immunogenicity, necessitating the use of adjuvants.
• Despite decades of use, only a few adjuvants are licensed for human application, highlighting a need for new options.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advances in the discovery and development of novel vaccine adjuvants.
• To discuss new candidate adjuvants with the potential to modulate immune responses for specific needs.
• To explore adjuvants capable of inducing broad and sustained immune responses at both systemic and mucosal levels.

Main Methods:

• Review of scientific literature on vaccine adjuvants.
• Identification of novel biological targets for immune stimulators.
• Analysis of promising adjuvants in preclinical and clinical development.

Main Results:

• Advances in understanding the immune system have led to new targets for adjuvant discovery.
• Several new candidate adjuvants have been identified through screening programs.
• A number of promising adjuvants are currently undergoing preclinical and clinical evaluation.

Conclusions:

• The development of new adjuvants is essential to overcome limitations of existing vaccines.
• Novel adjuvants hold promise for enhancing vaccine efficacy and broadening protection.
• Ongoing research is identifying and evaluating new immune stimulators for future vaccine applications.