Current Trends In Research, Development And Production Of Prophylactic Vaccines: Report of Vaccipharma 2015 Congress

Articleas whooping cough, this has been one of the most persistent and extended infectious diseases, with more than 200 000 deaths per year and 20 million cases worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).This situation exists today in spite of high vaccine coverage [1].A first generation of vaccines consisting of suspensions of Bordetella pertussis cells has been used since the 1940s with high levels of efficacy.However, concerns about several drawbacks such as local reactions, fever and even some not substantiated neurological disorders has driven the development and application of vaccines based on isolated and purified antigens as opposed to whole cells.This second generation of acellular vaccines (aP) containing either three or five purified antigens adsorbed to alum and co-formulated with other antigens, although less reactogenic, has not conferred the same level of protective immunity against B. pertussis as the original whole-cell pertussis (wP) vaccines [2].In fact, its introduction in the 1980s has been linked to the resurgence of whooping cough in developed countries, where had changed from wP to aP vaccines.One explanation of the failure of these aP vaccines is attributed to the induction of IgG1 antibodies and T helper-2 (Th-2) cells, whereas the wP vaccines generate a Th-1/ Th-17 response, which is thought to be important for protection against B. pertussis.One solution to the ongoing problem might be a return to wP, but this is generally viewed as unfeasible in countries where aP vaccines are established.Therefore, a third generation of vaccines and new strategies regarding vaccination schedules and policies are in progress [3].In this context, the session on pertussis vaccines started with a presentation from Dr. Waldely O. Dias (Butantan Institute, Brazil), who described the development of an improved wP vaccine, designated as Plow, with low endotoxicity, using a simplified and not expensive methodology, which also produced monophosphoryl lipid A as a by-product, to be used as an adjuvant.This new wP vaccine with low lipo-oligosaccharide (LOS) content, due to a chemical extraction of LOS from the outer membrane, when combined with diphtheria and tetanus antigens Abstract On June 14-19, 2015, the IUPHAR Section of Immunopharmacology and the Cuban Society of Pharmacology, together with the Latin-American Association of Pharmacology (ALF), Finlay Vaccine Institute and other prestigious Cuban scientific institutions, organized the Congress VACCIPHARMA 2015 (3rd International Congress on Pharmacology of Vaccines), held as part of the First International Convention IMMUNOPHARMACOLOGY-VACCIPHARMA 2015 (Meliá Marina Varadero Hotel, in Varadero beach, Cuba)VACCIPHARMA 2015 was organised into two large Workshops, addressing topics related to the research, development, clinical evaluation, production and quality control of Therapeutic and Prophylactic Vaccines, respectively.At the same time the Workshop on Prophylactic Vaccines was integrated by several Symposiums, focused on meningococcal, pneumococcal, enteric, tuberculosis and pertussis vaccines.About 250 delegates, including 100 international researchers from 15 countries, attended this meeting.The Congress had a remarkable Opening Session, with a Key Lecture given by the outstanding scientist Professor Dr. Shiv Pillai (United States of America), who talked about the changing views in the field of the immunology of vaccination and the challenges ahead.The aim of this review is to give an overview of the main topics discussed in the Prophylactic Vaccines Workshop, not as a complete narration of the events, but to provide an update of the latest state of the art and methodologies being applied to prophylactic vaccines with an expert commentary on the invited speakers.