Interindividual variations in the efficacy and toxicity of vaccines

A number of currently available vaccines have shown significant differences in the magnitude of immune responses and toxicity in individuals undergoing vaccination. A number of factors may be involved in the variations in immune responses, which include age, gender, race, amount and quality of the antigen, the dose administered and to some extent the route of administration, and genetics of immune system. Hence, it becomes imperative that researchers have tools such as genomics and proteomics at their disposal to predict which set of population is more likely to be non-responsive or develop toxicity to vaccines. In this article, we briefly review the influence of pharmacogenomics biomarkers on the efficacy and toxicity of some of the most frequently reported vaccines that showed a high rate of variability in response and toxicity towards hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, influenza, and AIDS/HIV.