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Characterizing the Association Between Antigens and Adjuvants

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Subunit Vaccine Delivery

Part of the book series: Advances in Delivery Science and Technology ((ADST))

Abstract

Subunit vaccines consist of two principal components exerting a concerted action: Antigen(s) and adjuvant. Adjuvants serve to enhance, accelerate, and prolong the specific immune response towards the desired response to vaccine antigen(s). Combining the antigen(s) with the adjuvant is a crucial aspect of the final adjuvant–antigen formulation. During the development of new subunit vaccines, it is necessary to define and describe the mechanism of association (and de-association) as well as the association efficiency to ensure optimal efficacy, safety, and stability of novel vaccine formulations, also from a regulatory point of view. Current guidelines from regulating agencies thus state that aspects that are critical for the biological properties of the adjuvant-antigen combination (e.g., adsorption, binding characteristics) should be identified and monitored. However, the characterization of the interactions between antigens and adjuvants often possesses a large analytical challenge due to the fact that antigens are usually formulated at rather low concentrations and the interference of adjuvants with many of the available analytical techniques. In this chapter we describe the importance of addressing antigen–adjuvant interactions (association and de-association). In addition, we describe analytical tools currently available for their characterization and present a review of the current knowledge in the literature for aluminum adjuvants and emulsions adjuvants, which are components of marketed vaccines, as well as for lipid vesicles for which we present brief examples from our own research.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Health, Microbiology and Immunology, Centre for Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

    Mette Hamborg

  2. Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 2, 2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

    Camilla Foged

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  1. Mette Hamborg
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  2. Camilla Foged
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Correspondence to Mette Hamborg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy, University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Camilla Foged

  2. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Thomas Rades

  3. Pharmacy School, Aston University, School of Life and Health Sciences, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Yvonne Perrie

  4. Division of Health Sciences, University of Otago, School of Pharmacy, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Sarah Hook

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Hamborg, M., Foged, C. (2015). Characterizing the Association Between Antigens and Adjuvants. In: Foged, C., Rades, T., Perrie, Y., Hook, S. (eds) Subunit Vaccine Delivery. Advances in Delivery Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1417-3_21

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