Overview: Biologicals & Immunologicals: Recombinant vaccines: technology and applications

Recombinant DNA technology, combined with the current understanding of antigen processing and recognition, provides a wide selection of possible approaches for vaccine development. The selection of a particular vaccine approach can thus be based on the desired outcome. Modern vaccinologists can select from a range of vaccines including subunits, purified proteins or polysaccharides, proteins made by recombinant methods in vitro, live vectors, or polynucleotides. Therefore, the treatment can be tailored according to the immune response desired and the safety, efficacy, and availability of the wild-type organism or naturally produced antigen. This article aims to review several of the recent advances and major patent applications in this area.