title: Recent progress in adjuvant discovery for peptide-based subunit vaccines.
abstract: Peptide-based subunit vaccines are of great interest in modern immunotherapy as they are safe, easy to produce and well defined. However, peptide antigens produce a relatively weak immune response, and thus require the use of immunostimulants (adjuvants) for optimal efficacy. Developing a safe and effective adjuvant remains a challenge for peptide-based vaccine design. Recent advances in immunology have allowed researchers to have a better understanding of the immunological implication of related diseases, which facilitates more rational design of adjuvant systems. Understanding the molecular structure of the adjuvants allows the establishment of their structure-activity relationships which is useful for the development of next-generation adjuvants. This review summarizes the current state of adjuvants development in the field of synthetic peptide-based vaccines. The structural, chemical and biological properties of adjuvants associated with their immunomodulatory effects are discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences; The University of Queensland; Brisbane, QLD Australia; Faculty of Pharmacy; National University Malaysia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Fazren
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Azmi
authors.forename: Abdullah Al Hadi
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Ahmad Fuaad
authors.forename: Mariusz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Skwarczynski
authors.forename: Istvan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Toth
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit
keywords: adjuvant; dendritic cell; peptide vaccine; toll-like receptor; vaccine delivery