Reactogenicity represents the physical manifestation of the inflammatory response to vaccination, and can include injection-site pain, redness, swelling or induration at the injection site, as well ...as systemic symptoms, such as fever, myalgia, or headache. The experience of symptoms following vaccination can lead to needle fear, long-term negative attitudes and non-compliant behaviours, which undermine the public health impact of vaccination. This review presents current knowledge on the potential causes of reactogenicity, and how host characteristics, vaccine administration and composition factors can influence the development and perception of reactogenicity. The intent is to provide an overview of reactogenicity after vaccination to help the vaccine community, including healthcare professionals, in maintaining confidence in vaccines by promoting vaccination, setting expectations for vaccinees about what might occur after vaccination and reducing anxiety by managing the vaccination setting.
Introduction: Adjuvants are used to improve vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy by enhancing antigen presentation to antigen-specific immune cells with the aim to confer long-term protection against ...targeted pathogens. Adjuvants have been used in vaccines for more than 90 years. Combinations of immunostimulatory molecules, such as in the Adjuvant System AS01, have opened the way to the development of new or improved vaccines.
Areas covered: AS01 is a liposome-based vaccine adjuvant system containing two immunostimulants: 3-O-desacyl-4ʹ-monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) and the saponin QS-21. Here we describe studies investigating the mode of action of AS01, and consider the role of AS01 in enhancing specific immune responses to the antigen for selected candidate vaccines targeting malaria and herpes zoster. The effects of AS01 are rapid and transient, being localized to the injected muscle and draining lymph node. AS01 is efficient at promoting CD4
+
T cell-mediated immune responses and is an appropriate candidate adjuvant for inclusion in vaccines targeting viruses or intracellular pathogens.
Expert commentary: AS01 activity to enhance adaptive responses depends on synergistic activities of QS-21 and MPL. AS01 adjuvantation shows good prospects for use in new vaccines targeted to populations with challenging immune statuses and against diseases caused by complex pathogens.
Conventionally, vaccines are thought to induce a specific immune response directed against a target pathogen. Long recognized but poorly understood nonspecific benefits of vaccination, such as ...reduced susceptibility to unrelated diseases or cancer, are now being investigated and may be due in part to "trained immunity'.
We discuss 'trained immunity' and whether vaccine-induced 'trained immunity' could be leveraged to prevent morbidity due to a broader range of causes.
The prevention of infection i.e. maintaining homeostasis by preventing the primary infection and resulting secondary illnesses, is the pivotal strategy used to direct vaccine design and may have long-term, positive impacts on health at all ages. In the future, we anticipate that vaccine design will change to not only prevent the target infection (or related infections) but to generate positive modifications to the immune response that could prevent a wider range of infections and potentially reduce the impact of immunological changes associated with aging. Despite changing demographics, adult vaccination has not always been prioritized. However, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has demonstrated that adult vaccination can flourish given the right circumstances, demonstrating that harnessing the potential benefits of life-course vaccination is achievable for all.
Abstract
The primary goal of vaccination is the prevention of pathogen-specific infection. The indirect consequences may include maintenance of homeostasis through prevention of infection-induced ...complications; trained immunity that re-programs innate cells to respond more efficiently to later, unrelated threats; slowing or reversing immune senescence by altering the epigenetic clock, and leveraging the pool of memory B and T cells to improve responses to new infections. Vaccines may exploit the plasticity of the immune system to drive longer-term immune responses that promote health at a broader level than just the prevention of single, specific infections. In this perspective, we discuss the concept of “immune fitness” and how to potentially build a resilient immune system that could contribute to better health. We argue that vaccines may contribute positively to immune fitness in ways that are only beginning to be understood, and that life-course vaccination is a fundamental tool for achieving healthy aging.
Highlights•Vaccines containing one of 3 AS families have been licensed since 2005. •Safety of each AS-antigen combination is evaluated individually. •New methods were developed to enhance safety ...assessment of vaccines containing AS. •Insights into mode of action are contributing to understanding vaccine safety. •Methods developed have progressed how we understand/investigate vaccine safety.
The use of novel adjuvants in human vaccines continues to expand as their contribution to preventing disease in challenging populations and caused by complex pathogens is increasingly understood. ...AS01 is a family of liposome-based vaccine Adjuvant Systems containing two immunostimulants: 3-O-desacyl-4'-monophosphoryl lipid A and the saponin QS-21. AS01-containing vaccines have been approved and administered to millions of individuals worldwide.INTRODUCTIONThe use of novel adjuvants in human vaccines continues to expand as their contribution to preventing disease in challenging populations and caused by complex pathogens is increasingly understood. AS01 is a family of liposome-based vaccine Adjuvant Systems containing two immunostimulants: 3-O-desacyl-4'-monophosphoryl lipid A and the saponin QS-21. AS01-containing vaccines have been approved and administered to millions of individuals worldwide.Here, we report advances in our understanding of the mode of action of AS01 that contributed to the development of efficacious vaccines preventing disease due to malaria, herpes zoster, and respiratory syncytial virus. AS01 induces early innate immune activation that induces T cell-mediated and antibody-mediated responses with optimized functional characteristics and induction of immune memory. AS01-containing vaccines appear relatively impervious to baseline immune status translating into high efficacy across populations. Currently licensed AS01-containing vaccines have shown acceptable safety profiles in clinical trials and post-marketing settings.AREAS COVEREDHere, we report advances in our understanding of the mode of action of AS01 that contributed to the development of efficacious vaccines preventing disease due to malaria, herpes zoster, and respiratory syncytial virus. AS01 induces early innate immune activation that induces T cell-mediated and antibody-mediated responses with optimized functional characteristics and induction of immune memory. AS01-containing vaccines appear relatively impervious to baseline immune status translating into high efficacy across populations. Currently licensed AS01-containing vaccines have shown acceptable safety profiles in clinical trials and post-marketing settings.Initial expectations that adjuvantation with AS01 could support effective vaccine responses and contribute to disease control have been realized. Investigation of the utility of AS01 in vaccines to prevent other challenging diseases, such as tuberculosis, is ongoing, together with efforts to fully define its mechanisms of action in different vaccine settings.EXPERT OPINIONInitial expectations that adjuvantation with AS01 could support effective vaccine responses and contribute to disease control have been realized. Investigation of the utility of AS01 in vaccines to prevent other challenging diseases, such as tuberculosis, is ongoing, together with efforts to fully define its mechanisms of action in different vaccine settings.
Highlights • Detailed knowledge of the pathogen is a pre-requisite for antigen selection. • Disease epidemiology and clinical manifestations influence vaccine requirements. • Increasing knowledge and ...new technologies drive innovative vaccine design. • Manufacture and delivery of vaccine antigens must be practicably achievable.
The effectiveness of trivalent influenza vaccines may be reduced in older versus younger adults because of age-related immunosenescence. The use of an adjuvant in such a vaccine is one strategy that ...may combat immunosenescence, potentially by bolstering T-cell mediated responses.
This observer-blind study, conducted in the United States (US) and Spain during the 2008-2009 influenza season, evaluated the effect of Adjuvant System AS03 on specific T-cell responses to a seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV) in ≥65 year-old adults.Medically-stable adults aged ≥65 years were randomly allocated to receive a single dose of AS03-adjuvanted TIV (TIV/AS03) or TIV. Healthy adults aged 18-40 years received only TIV. Blood samples were collected on Day 0, Day 21, Day 42 and Day 180. Influenza-specific CD4+ T cells, defined by the induction of the immune markers CD40L, IL-2, IFN-γ, or TNF-α, were measured in ex vivo cultures of antigen-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells.
A total of 192 adults were vaccinated: sixty nine and seventy three ≥65 year olds received TIV/AS03 and TIV, respectively; and fifty 18 - 40 year olds received TIV. In the ≥65 year-old group on Day 21, the frequency of CD4+ T cells specific to the three vaccine strains was superior in the TIV/AS03 recipients to the frequency in TIV (p < 0.001). On Days 42 and 180, the adjusted-geometric mean specific CD4+ T-cell frequencies were also higher in the TIV/AS03 recipients than in the TIV recipients (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the adjusted-geometric mean specific CD4+ T-cell frequencies were higher in the ≥65 year-old recipients of TIV/AS03 than in the18 - 40 year old recipients of TIV on Days 21 (p = 0.006) and 42 (p = 0.011).
This positive effect of AS03 Adjuvant System on the CD4+ T-cell response to influenza vaccine strains in older adults could confer benefit in protection against clinical influenza disease in this population.
(Clinicaltrials.gov.). NCT00765076.
The role of the nonclassical human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class Ib molecule HLA-G in immune tolerance was first reported at maternofetal interface. This immunomodulating role could be exerted more ...generally in tumoral or post-transplantation situations in inhibiting natural killer (NK) and T-lymphocyte mediated lysis. Among the different transcripts resulting from alternative splicing, the mainly secreted isoform, HLA-G5, corresponds to complete molecule and has been demonstrated to be elevated in melanomas and in serum from heart-transplanted patients. As dendritic cells expressed ILT4, an inhibitory receptor capable of interacting with HLA-G, we have studied the effect of soluble HLA-G (HLA-G5) on differentiation, maturation, apoptosis and function of monocyte or CD34+-derived dendritic cells (DC). Soluble HLA-G did not alter differentiation, maturation or apoptosis of DC whatever their origin. On the other hand, an inhibitory effect of HLA-G5 on T lymphocytes proliferation was found in 53% of mixed leukocyte reactions (MLR) and was variable in intensity. These data demonstrate an indirect way of HLA-G5 action on DC occurring via T lymphocytes that reinforces the immune inhibitory role of soluble HLA-G capable to be secreted during tumoral malignancies or following heart transplantation.