Enhancing vaccine design strategies: applications for protein science, proteomics and adjuvants

Vaccines have saved millions of lives. Currently, and for infectious diseases in humans at least, sanitation and vaccination remain the most efficient and the most cost- effective prophylactic treatment available. Vaccination has led to the global eradiation of smallpox, the virtual eradication of polio and a reduction of over 95% in the incidence of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella. [1] Indeed, successful vaccine strategies have circumvented mortality caused by infectious diseases in developed countries and have thus increased our lifespan. [1] Today’s society in developed countries has a life expectancy of more than 80 years, and there is a higher proportion of elderly to young people. However, there remains a continued need for the development of new vaccines to offer protection for infections where we currently have no effective vaccine (infections such as malaria or human immunodeficiency virus) and have recurrent diseases (such as tuberculosis, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza A and B), plus newly emergent diseases, such as West Nile fever or Ebola. Vaccination is also increasingly recognised as an important strategy for food security, by providing protection to livestock against existing and emerging pathogens.