Expert review of vaccines
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Serogroup A meningococcal epidemics have been a recurrent public health problem, especially in resource-poor countries of Africa. Recently, the administration in mass vaccination campaigns of a single dose of the monovalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine, MenAfriVac, to the 1-29 year-old population of sub-Saharan Africa has prevented epidemics of meningitis caused by serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis. This strategy has also been shown to provide herd protection of the non-vaccinated population. Development of meningococcal conjugate vaccines covering other serogroups and enhanced use of the pneumococcal and Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccines must be pursued to fully control bacterial meningitis in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Expert review of vaccines · Jan 2015
ReviewStrategic development of the conserved region of the M protein and other candidates as vaccines to prevent infection with group A streptococci.
Group A streptococcal (Streptococcus pyogenes) diseases remain a major public health problem in developing countries as well as in the indigenous populations of developed countries. In view of the large number of Group A streptococcal infections and the potential for sequelae such as rheumatic heart disease, control strategies including the development of an anti-streptococcal vaccine that is able to prevent infection and colonization is important. In this article, we discuss the epidemiology and strain variability of Group A streptococcus and how this is rendering vaccine development more challenging. We discuss vaccine strategies with a focus on the conserved region of the M protein and present a viewpoint for the impediments and the way forward.
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Expert review of vaccines · Jan 2015
Meta AnalysisImmunogenicity and reactogenicity of tetravalent vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) in healthy children: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Varicella is a highly infectious childhood disease. Tetravalent measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) vaccine was introduced as one-syringe dose. ⋯ The immunogenicities of MMRV and MMR+V vaccines were comparable in healthy children; however, MMRV vaccination showed higher incidences of fever and rash.
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Expert review of vaccines · Jan 2015
ReviewProstate Cancer Immunotherapy with Sipuleucel-T: Current Standards and Future Directions.
The management of advanced prostate cancer, specifically metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), remains a therapeutic challenge. Sipuleucel-T (Provenge; APC8015) was approved by the FDA in 2010 for the treatment of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic mCRPC patients, and it remains the only FDA-approved immunotherapy for prostate cancer of any indication to date. ⋯ Additional trials are aiming to expand the application of sipuleucel-T to prostate cancer patients beyond the mCRPC setting. Ongoing challenges include understanding the full mechanism of action of sipuleucel-T, optimizing the sequence of sipuleucel-T in relation to other therapies for mCRPC in clinical practice, and the identification of surrogate markers to predict survival benefit in clinical trials.
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Expert review of vaccines · Jan 2015
EditorialUniversal influenza vaccines, science fiction or soon reality?
Currently used influenza vaccines are only effective when the vaccine strains match the epidemic strains antigenically. To this end, seasonal influenza vaccines must be updated almost annually. ⋯ Because of an ever-present threat of the next influenza pandemic and the continuous emergence of drift variants of seasonal influenza A viruses, there is a need for an universal influenza vaccine that induces protective immunity against all influenza A viruses. Here, we summarize some of the efforts that are ongoing to develop universal influenza vaccines.