Innovation in Vaccinology: from design, through to delivery and testing [Paperback]

Prevention of infectious diseases by vaccination is one of the most significant achievements of modern medicine. During the 20th century, the average human life span in the developed world was about 70 years and it is expected to increase, with a significant portion of this increase directly attributed to vaccination. Since the first empiric vaccination trials, knowledge and technology have enormously evolved and new vaccination strategies are emerging on the market. Indeed, in spite of the great success, conventional vaccination strategies sometimes may result ineffective and, above all, may raise safety concerns. The aim of this book is to provide an overview of some of the technology platforms that have been realized or are currently under development to try to address unsolved and new issues in the field of vaccine development. Common denominator of all thematic areas described herein is the multidisciplinary teamwork. Most of the enabling technologies have been established by putting in the melting pot expertise in fields that, at first glance, may appear very far apart. I hope that this collection of articles will make the readers aware that vaccinology is rapidly taking a new direction, ceasing to be an empirical science.

Preface.- Section I Vaccine design.- 1. Design of new vaccines in the genomic and post-genomic era, Laura Serino, Kate L. Seib and Mariagrazia Pizza.- 2. Comparing in silico results to in vivo and ex vivo of influenza-specific immune responses after vaccination or infection in humans, Filippo Castiglione, Benjamin Ribba and Olivier Brass.- Section II Vaccine delivery.- 3. Vaccine glycoprotein tagged with the human Fc domain as second generation vaccine candidates, Silvia Loureiro, Elena Robinson, Hongying Chen, Pongsathon Phapugrangkul, Camilo Colaco and Ian M Jones.- 4. Engineered viruses as vaccine platforms, Antonella Folgori and Stefania Capone.- 5. Virus-like particles as efficient delivery platform to induce a potent immune rlc&