The importance of vaccine on public health is related to the herd protection related to the levels of vaccine coverage, which directly influences the vaccinated individuals as well as the unvaccinated community. Reaching the level of herd protection by increasing vaccine coverage is the basic strategy to eradicate related infectious diseases. Again, herd protection has played an important role in public health practices. With the increasing interests in estimating the vaccine herd protection, we however, have seen only few relevant papers including observational population-based and cluster-randomized clinical trials reported in China. We hope to discuss the study designs for evaluating the vaccine herd protection in order to generate evidence-based related research in this field.
China/epidemiology* ; Communicable Disease Control ; Communicable Diseases/immunology* ; Humans ; Immunity, Herd/immunology* ; Research Design ; Vaccination/trends* ; Vaccines/immunology*

Adjuvants can be defined as pharmacological and immunological components that are able to modify and/or enhance antigen-specific immune responses. Based on the interdisciplinary research between immunology and material science/engineering, various vaccine adjuvant materials have been developed. By rational design and engineering of antigen or adjuvant materials, immune-modulatory vaccine systems generated to activate immune system. Here, we review the current progress of bioengineered prophylactic and/or therapeutic vaccine adjuvant for cancer and/or infectious disease, and discuss the prospect of future vaccine adjuvant materials.
Adjuvants, Immunologic ; Allergy and Immunology ; Communicable Diseases* ; Immune System ; Immunomodulation ; Immunotherapy*

Infectious diseases can be caused by multiple pathogens, which can produce specific immune response in human body. The immune response produced by T cells is cellular immunity, which plays an important role in the anti-infection process of human body, and can participate in immunological protection and cause immunopathology. The outcome of various infectious diseases is closely related to cellular immune function, especially the function of T cells. Jurkat cells belong to the human acute T lymphocyte leukemia cell line. Jurkat cell model can simulate the function T lymphocytes, so it is widely used in the in vitro studies of T cell signal transduction, cytokines, and receptor expression, and can provide reference and guidance for the treatment of various infectious diseases and the research on their pathogenesis. The Jurkat cell model has been widely used in the in vitro studies of viral diseases and atypical pathogens, but parasitic infection studies using the Jurkat cell model are still rare. This article reviews advances in the application of Jurkat cell model in the research on infectious diseases.
Communicable Diseases ; immunology ; Deltaretrovirus Infections ; immunology ; Enterovirus A, Human ; Enterovirus Infections ; immunology ; Epstein-Barr Virus Infections ; immunology ; HIV Infections ; immunology ; Humans ; Jurkat Cells ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology

As a member of the HSP90 family, heat shock protein (HSP) Gp96 is one of the most abundant proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which displayed important molecular chaperones function in cells. Gp96 can stimulate the production of cytokines by activating the antigen presentation cells (such as dendritic cell, et al) in innate immunity. It is capable of eliciting an antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) immune response to eliminate pathogens and tumors by facilitating antigen cross-presentation in adaptive immunity. Gp96 is also an ideal adjuvant in many recent researches. Here, we review the progress that addresses the role of biological characteristics, immunogenic mechanism that may be involved in the induction of anti-infection immune response and antitumor immunity, which may guide the new vaccine strategies with the knowledge of Gp96-antigen complexes.
Adjuvants, Immunologic ; genetics ; metabolism ; Antigen-Presenting Cells ; physiology ; Communicable Diseases ; immunology ; Dendritic Cells ; immunology ; Endoplasmic Reticulum ; immunology ; Humans ; Membrane Glycoproteins ; immunology ; Neoplasms ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic ; immunology

Vaccination is regarded as one of the biggest triumphs in the history of medicine. We are living in the most successful period of vaccine development. The accumulation of multidisciplinary knowledge and the investment of massive funding have enabled the development of vaccines against many infectious diseases as well as other diseases including malignant tumors. The paradigm of clinical vaccine evaluation and licensure has also been modernized based on scientific improvements and historical experience. However, there remain a number of hurdles to overcome. Continuous efforts are focused on increasing the efficacy and reducing the risks related to vaccine use. Cutting-edge knowledge about immunology and microbiology is being rapidly translated to vaccine development. Thus, physicians and others involved in the clinical development of vaccines should have sufficient understanding of the recent developmental trends in vaccination and the diseases of interest.
Allergy and Immunology ; Communicable Diseases ; Financial Management ; History of Medicine ; Investments ; Licensure ; Vaccination ; Vaccines

Various cell types that express regulatory function may influence the pathogenesis of most and perhaps all infections. Some regulatory cells are present at the time of infection whereas others are induced or activated in response to infection. The actual mechanisms by which different types of infections signal regulatory cell responses remain poorly understood. However a most likely mechanism is the creation of a microenvironment that permits the conversion of conventional T cells into cells with the same antigen specificity that have regulatory function. Some possible means by which this can occur are discussed. The relationship between regulatory cells and infections is complex especially with chronic situations. The outcome can either be of benefit to the host or damage the disease control process or in rare instances appears to be a component of a finely balanced relationship between the host and the infecting agent. Manipulating the regulatory cell responses to achieve a favorable outcome of infection remains an unfulfilled objective of therapeutic immunology.
Allergy and Immunology ; Communicable Diseases* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; T-Lymphocytes ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory*

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) pose a major threat to public health and security. Given the dynamic nature and significant impact of EIDs, the most effective way to prevent and protect against them is to develop vaccines in advance. Systems biology approaches provide an integrative way to understand the complex immune response to pathogens. They can lead to a greater understanding of EID pathogenesis and facilitate the evaluation of newly developed vaccine-induced immunity in a timely manner. In recent years, advances in high throughput technologies have enabled researchers to successfully apply systems biology methods to analyze immune responses to a variety of pathogens and vaccines. Despite recent advances, computational and biological challenges impede wider application of systems biology approaches. This review highlights recent advances in the fields of systems immunology and vaccinology, and presents ways that systems biology-based platforms can be applied to accelerate a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms of immunity against EIDs.
*Communicable Diseases, Emerging ; Humans ; *Immunity ; Research ; Systems Biology/*methods ; Vaccines/*immunology

Heat-shock protein gp96 associates with antigenic peptides derived from tumor and virus. Exogenous gp96-peptide complexes are taken up by antigen-presenting cells through interaction with its receptor CD91 on the cell surface, and cross-present antigenic peptides to MHC class I molecules by a peptide relay line in the endoplasmic reticulum for specific T-cell activation. Meanwhile, gp96 has been shown to initiate innate immune responses through interaction with toll-like receptor 2 and toll-like receptor 4. Recent studies have shown a gp96-mediated immune balance between CTL and Tregs. With the further understanding of counteracting immunosuppressive mechanisms in gp96-induced cellular immune responses, and establishment of high level production of recombinant gp96 by the yeast, gp96 appears to be a promising candidate for designing effective therapeutic vaccines against tumor and infectious diseases.
Animals ; Communicable Diseases ; therapy ; Heat-Shock Proteins ; immunology ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Immunotherapy, Active ; methods ; Neoplasms ; therapy ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory ; immunology

The hygiene hypothesis (HH) proposed by Strachan in 1989 was expanded to explain the inverse association between the occurrence of allergy disorders and the risk of infectious diseases and parasite infestation. The microflora hypothesis (MH) suggests that gut microbial dysbiosis in early life might trigger hypersensitivity disorders. The sharing concept of both HH and MH is gene-environment interaction, which is also a key concept in epigenetics. The amalgamation of epidemiology and epigenetics has created a scientific discipline termed epigenetic epidemiology. To accomplish an era of gene-environment-wide interaction studies, it is necessary to launch a national human epigenome project.
Allergy and Immunology ; Communicable Diseases ; Dysbiosis ; Epidemiology ; Epigenomics ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Gene-Environment Interaction ; Humans ; Hygiene Hypothesis ; Hygiene ; Hypersensitivity ; Parasites

Awards and Prizes ; China ; Communicable Diseases, Emerging ; epidemiology ; immunology ; microbiology ; Cooperative Behavior ; International Cooperation ; Japan ; Medical Laboratory Personnel ; organization & administration