I read somewhat recently about how the pandemic H1N1 vaccine in Canada will be administered to the public in November, or about a month later than other countries. This is because the vaccine in Canada will contain a proprietary oil-emulsion adjuvant by GlaxoSmithKline called AS03. The article goes on a bit about criticism of the late dissemination, but I won't talk about that. Instead, I'd like to point out that in a short while, alum will lose its claim-to-fame as the only adjuvant licensed in Canada. I don't know if this adjuvant will receive regulatory approval in the US, but the rest of the world[1] has already been using adjuvants besides alum, such as monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) and another oil-emulsion adjuvant called MF59.
I've been doing some researching about how oil-emulsion adjuvants work, so that'll be my next post, but I can leave this quote here:
De Gregorio E, D'Oro U, Wack A. 2009. Immunology of TLR-independent vaccine adjuvants. Curr Opin Immunol. 21(3):339-45.
I've been doing some researching about how oil-emulsion adjuvants work, so that'll be my next post, but I can leave this quote here:
Alum and MF59 act on monocytes, macrophages, or granulocytes to induce cytokines that generate a local immunostimulatory environment eventually leading to DC activation. In addition they also promote monocyte differentiation into DCs. MF59 can also activate muscle cells at injection site.[2]
1.Well, at least Europe.
De Gregorio E, D'Oro U, Wack A. 2009. Immunology of TLR-independent vaccine adjuvants. Curr Opin Immunol. 21(3):339-45.
