New and Emerging Vaccines
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Organizers: Issar Smith, David Perlin and Barry Kreiswirth, Public Health Research Institute
Roger Glass, "Rotavirus Vaccines: What Questions Remain?"
Debbie Saslow, "Cervical Cancer Prevention: Give it a Shot?"
Keith P. Klugman, "Pneumococcal Vaccine: Its Role in Pandemic Influenza Preparedness"
Christopher Plowe, "Malaria Vaccines"
Rino Rappuoli, "Vaccines in the ERA of Genomics and TLRs"
Abstracts
Rotavirus Vaccines: What Questions Remain?
Roger Glass,Fogarty Institute, NIH
Diarrhea is among the most common illnesses of all children and a major cause of deaths in the developing world. Global surveillance has identified rotavirus to be the single most common cause of severe disease and new vaccines against rotavirus have recently been licenced and introduced into the US, Europe and many other countries to protect infants and children against this problem. But will these vaccines stop the more than half million deaths in the developing world? Many scientific issues remain before we will have a clear answer to this question and know how close we are to success.
Cervical Cancer Prevention: Give it a Shot?"
Debbie Saslow, American Cancer Society
Virtually all cervical cancers are causally related to infections by human papillomavirus (HPV). Two vaccines against the most common cancer-causing HPV types have been developed, and the first of these has been approved for use in the US and other countries. Numerous studies have been published on the efficacy of these vaccines as well as issues related to policy and implementation. The American Cancer Society, as well as several other organizations, has developed guidelines for the use of HPV vaccines, including who should be vaccinated and at what age. Potential implications for screening and sexual behaviors as well as vaccine financing are important to consider.
Pneumococcal Vaccine: Its Role in Pandemic Influenza Preparedness
Keith P. Klugman, Emory University
Pneumococcal infections are usually preceded by an upper respiratory viral illness. The simultaneous acquisition of the influenza virus and the pneumococcus may have severe consequences for the host. Conjugate pneumococcal vaccination has been shown to reduce the burden of pneumonia and to reduce influenza - associated hospitalizations by preventing pneumococcal superinfection. A re-analysis of the mortality during the 1918 influenza pandmeic provides evidence for pneumococcal co-infection in up to half of the deaths in young soldiers. Pneumococcal vaccines may play a major role in pandemic influenza planning.
Malaria Vaccines
Christopher Plowe, University of Maryland
Plasmodium falciparum malaria is a major global killer and a serious threat to travelers. An effective malaria vaccine would be a huge boon to the health and economies of tropical countries, but the size and complexity of the parasite and our limited understanding of protective immunity against malaria have stymied vaccine efforts for decades. A subunit protein vaccine recently showed efficacy for the first time in field trials, and live attenuated whole-organism vaccines are promising but controversial. Novel approaches are needed to overcome the extreme antigenic diversity that malaria parasites use to evade attack by the human immune system.
Vaccines in the Era of Genomics and TLRs
Rino Rappuoli, Novartis Vaccines, Siena, Italy
Vaccination is considered the most effective medical intervention. In the last century it eliminated or eradicated most of the infectious diseases responsible for much of human morbidity and mortality during recorded history. Most of the vaccines have been developed following the principles se