What Is the Predictive Value of Animal Models for Vaccine Efficacy in Humans?

Animal models are an essential feature of the vaccine design toolkit.Although animal models have been invaluable in delineating the mechanisms of immune function, their precision in predicting how well specific vaccines work in humans is often suboptimal.There are, of course, many obvious species differences that may limit animal models from predicting all details of how a vaccine works in humans.However, careful consideration of which animal models may have limitations should also allow more accurate interpretations of animal model data and more accurate predictions of what is to be expected in clinical trials.In this article, we examine some of the considerations that might be relevant to cross-species extrapolation of vaccinerelated immune responses for the prediction of how vaccines will perform in humans. GREAT DEBATESWhat are the most interesting topics likely to come up over dinner or drinks with your colleagues?Or, more importantly, what are the topics that don't come up because they are a little too controversial?In Immune Memory and Vaccines: Great Debates, Editors Rafi Ahmed and Shane Crotty have put together a collection of articles on such questions, written by thought leaders in these fields, with the freedom to talk about the issues as they see fit.This short, innovative format aims to bring a fresh perspective by encouraging authors to be opinionated, focus on what is most interesting and current, and avoid restating introductory material covered in many other reviews.The Editors posed 13 interesting questions critical for our understanding of vaccines and immune memory to a broad group of experts in the field.In each case, several different perspectives are provided.Note that while each author knew that there were additional scientists addressing the same question, they did not know who these authors were, which ensured the independence of the opinions and perspectives expressed in each article.Our hope is that readers enjoy these articles and that they trigger many more conversations on these important topics.