Intro to Vaccines and Immunotherapy Flashcards
What is smallpox?
Infection focused on small blood vessels in the skin and mouth/throat
Transmitted by inhalation
What is the aim of vaccination?
Protect the individual and the population against disease - known as herd immunity
What are the types of vaccines?
Living organisms - natural or attenuated
Intact but non-living organisms - viruses or bacteria
Subcellular fragments - capsular polysaccharides or surface antigens
Toxoids
Recombinant DNA-based - gene cloned & expressed, gene expressed in vectors or naked DNA
Give examples of living organism vaccines
Natural = vaccinia for smallpox, vole bacillus for TB
Attenuated = Sabin for polio, MMR, yellow fever 17D, varicella-zoster, BCG for TB
Give examples of intact but non-living organism vaccines
Viruses - Salk for polio, Rabies, influenza, hepatitis A, typhus
Bacteria - pertussis, typhoid, cholera, plague
Give examples of subcellular fragment vaccines
Capsular polysaccharides - pneumococcus, meningococcus, Haemophilus influenzae
Surface antigen - hepatitis B
Give examples of toxoid vaccines
Tetanus, diphtheria
Give examples of recombinant DNA-based vaccines
Gene cloned and expressed = hepatitis B yeast-derived
Genes expressed in vectors = experimental
Naked DNA = experimental
Why are live vaccines not popular?
Risk of causing disease if mutations in the weakened pathogen
Too risky but research being done into knocking out genes to render the live virus safe e.g. new Rotavirus vaccine
Why are attenuated vaccines better?
Continuous culture in non-human species
No selective pressure to maintain human virulence genes or human to human transfer genes
What was the first attenuated vaccine?
BCG for TB by Calmette and Guerin
How effective are dead vaccines?
Range of effectiveness - rabies and Salk polio are good; flu, typhoid and cholera less effective; plague questionable effectiveness
What are dead vaccines being replaced with?
Attenuated and subunit vaccines
What is a toxin?
Usually a bacterial exotoxin which has been inactivated by heat or chemical action
Active against toxin-induced illness
What are pseudoviruses?
Non-replicative virus-like particles that can be used to deliver DNA or RNA from an antigen of choice
They are recombinant viruses - surface proteins of one virus are combined with core genome/genetic material of a different deactivated virus e.g. vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) or a retrovirus
How are pseudoviruses used to develop vaccines?
Success of vaccines and antibody therapies are measured in the lab by a neutralisation assay by testing an antibody for its ability to neutralise the pseudovirus entry
What are pseudoviruses used for?
Widely used for study of cellular tropism, receptor recognition, drug discovery and for development and evaluation of antibodies and vaccines
What determines the delivery route of a pseudovirus?
The choice of pseudovirus used
e.g. Papilloma virus pseudovirus delivered to mucosa
What is meant by prophylactic?
Prevents disease
Most vaccines are prophylactic
What is the difference between prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines?
Prophylactic prevents disease = cautionary measure
Therapeutic vaccines administered post-infection to destroy pathogens that have already entered host cells
Describe how therapeutic dendritic cell therapy is used in cancer?
Monocytes from the patient are isolated
Immature DCs generated
DCs loaded with whole cell tumour-lysate (made by isolating tumour cells and preparing lysate)
Mature, antigen-presenting DCs acquired and patient is vaccinated
What do adjuvants do?
Boost the immunogenicity of poor antigens
Initiate an inflammatory response
What do adjuvants cause after vaccination?
Side-effects such as pain and swelling
What is the Depot effect?
Concentration/trapping of antigens at the site where lymphocytes are exposed to it
What are the different types of adjuvants?
Inorganic salts
Delivery systems
Bacterial products
Natural mediators (cytokines)
Give examples of inorganic salt adjuvants routinely used in humans
Aluminium hydroxide
Aluminium phosphate
Calcium phosphate
All cause depot and inflammation
Give an example of an inorganic salt adjuvant that is too toxic for human use
Beryllium hydroxide
Give examples of delivery system adjuvants too toxic to use in humans
Liposomes
Immune-stimulating complexes (ISCOMs)
Block polymers
Slow release formulations
Give examples of bacterial product adjuvants routinely used in humans
Bordetella pertussis with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids
Give examples of bacterial product adjuvants that are experimental or too toxic for human use
BCG
Mycobacterium bovis and oil
Muramyl dipeptide (MDP)
Give examples of cytokine adjuvants that are experimental or too toxic for human use
IL-1
IL-2
IL-12
IFN-g
Name some new adjuvants being developed
Monophosphoryl lipid A - detoxified form of endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS); first of a new generation of TLR agonists
MPL and alum (AS04) - used in HPV vaccine, Cervarix
MPL and Saponin (AS02) - may be useful in malaria vaccines
TLR ligand-based adjuvants
What are some TLR ligand-based adjuvants?
BCG - ligates TLR2 and TLR4
Poly IC - ligates TLR3
Aldara (TLR7 agonist) / R848 (TLR7 and 8 agonist)
What does TLR ligation do?
May shift Th1/Th2 balance (as might cytokines)
How can vaccines be administered?
Injection
Intramuscular
Cutaneous