Expert review of vaccines
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Serogroup A meningococcal epidemics have been a recurrent public health problem, especially in resource-poor countries of Africa. Recently, the administration in mass vaccination campaigns of a single dose of the monovalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine, MenAfriVac, to the 1-29 year-old population of sub-Saharan Africa has prevented epidemics of meningitis caused by serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis. This strategy has also been shown to provide herd protection of the non-vaccinated population. Development of meningococcal conjugate vaccines covering other serogroups and enhanced use of the pneumococcal and Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccines must be pursued to fully control bacterial meningitis in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Expert review of vaccines · Jan 2015
ReviewProstate Cancer Immunotherapy with Sipuleucel-T: Current Standards and Future Directions.
The management of advanced prostate cancer, specifically metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), remains a therapeutic challenge. Sipuleucel-T (Provenge; APC8015) was approved by the FDA in 2010 for the treatment of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic mCRPC patients, and it remains the only FDA-approved immunotherapy for prostate cancer of any indication to date. ⋯ Additional trials are aiming to expand the application of sipuleucel-T to prostate cancer patients beyond the mCRPC setting. Ongoing challenges include understanding the full mechanism of action of sipuleucel-T, optimizing the sequence of sipuleucel-T in relation to other therapies for mCRPC in clinical practice, and the identification of surrogate markers to predict survival benefit in clinical trials.
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Expert review of vaccines · Jan 2015
ReviewStrategic development of the conserved region of the M protein and other candidates as vaccines to prevent infection with group A streptococci.
Group A streptococcal (Streptococcus pyogenes) diseases remain a major public health problem in developing countries as well as in the indigenous populations of developed countries. In view of the large number of Group A streptococcal infections and the potential for sequelae such as rheumatic heart disease, control strategies including the development of an anti-streptococcal vaccine that is able to prevent infection and colonization is important. In this article, we discuss the epidemiology and strain variability of Group A streptococcus and how this is rendering vaccine development more challenging. We discuss vaccine strategies with a focus on the conserved region of the M protein and present a viewpoint for the impediments and the way forward.