Therapeutic Vaccines for Chronic Viral Infections: From Immune Modulation to Clinical Translation

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Vaccinology
• Virology

Background:

• Chronic viral infections (HBV, HCV, HIV, HPV, EBV) pose significant global health challenges.
• Therapeutic vaccines are a key strategy for achieving a functional cure for these persistent infections.
• Current vaccine platforms induce T-cell responses but face limitations due to host immunosuppression.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the progress of therapeutic vaccines for chronic viral infections over the last decade.
• To analyze the major challenges hindering vaccine development and clinical efficacy.
• To discuss future directions and combination therapy approaches.

Main Methods:

• Review of preclinical and clinical studies on therapeutic vaccines.
• Analysis of host-related factors limiting vaccine effectiveness (T-cell exhaustion, immune escape, immune tolerance).
• Exploration of combination therapy strategies.

Main Results:

• Various vaccine platforms have demonstrated the ability to elicit strong virus-specific T-cell responses.
• Clinical efficacy is constrained by the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and viral immune evasion.
• Combination therapies targeting viral load, immune activation, and inhibitory pathways are emerging.

Conclusions:

• Therapeutic vaccines hold potential for functional cure of chronic viral infections.
• Overcoming host immunosuppression and viral immune escape is critical for clinical success.
• Future strategies will likely involve multifaceted combination approaches to enhance vaccine efficacy.