Traditional or conventional vaccines exploit two approaches: either the introduction of live attenuated infectious agents that replicate within the host without causing disease or the introduction of specific antigens that trigger an immune response. Recently, a revolutionary strategy based on gene-based vaccines −either DNA- or RNA-based− has been proposed. This strategy involves the direct introduction of a DNA or RNA sequence encoding the antigen or antigens against which an immune response is sought, and relies on the in situ production of the target antigen (1). This means that the cell’s machinery uses the instructions contained in the introduced genetic material to make virus antigens that the immune system reacts to.
Vaccines
2 posts
Vaccines are considered one of the greatest successes of public health, as they have guarded many people of deadly or crippling diseases throughout the years. They have a very long history, with old methods describing the inoculation of smallpox as early as 1000 CE.