Advances in the development of bacterial vector technology

The demand for new and improved vaccines against human diseases has continued unabated over the past century. While the need continues for traditional vaccines in areas such as infectious diseases, there is an increasing demand for new therapies in nontraditional areas, such as cancer treatment, bioterrorism and food safety. Prompted by these changes, there has been a renewed interest in the application and development of live, attenuated bacteria expressing foreign antigens as vaccines. The application of bacterial vector vaccines to human maladies has been studied most extensively in attenuted strains of Salmonella. Live, attenuated strains of Shigella, Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium bovis-BCG and Vibrio cholerae provide unique alternatives in terms of antigen delivery and immune presentation, however and also show promise as potentially useful bacterial vectors.