Vaccines, Immunology and Clinical Trials

Vaccine Adjuvants and Antibody Engineering

Vaccine Adjuvants have been used in human vaccines for almost a century, yet very few adjuvants are licensed for human use. This has been due, in part, to a lack of understanding of their mechanism of action. However, recent insights into the innate immune system and its importance in initiating the adaptive immune response have sparked the rational design and development of the next generation of adjuvants. Several studies have validated one class of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) called Toll-like Receptors (TLRs) as vaccine adjuvant targets. Antibody engineering consists of modifying monoclonal antibody (mAb) sequences and/or structures to either enhance or dampen their functions. Monoclonal Abs have revolutionized the fields of diagnosis and immunotherapy for the treatment of a variety of diseases, particularly in cancer therapy.