Vaccination is a medical procedure intended to activate the immune system to prevent infectious diseases or defeat a growing tumor.
– Prophylactic vaccination aims at training the immune system to neutralize and eliminate pathogens that cause diseases in the context of infections.
– Therapeutic vaccination aims at boosting the immune system to eliminate cancer cells expressing a specific tumor-associated antigen (TAA) in the context of established tumors.
A vaccine is a formulation of specific antigens and adjuvants. Antigens typically consist of proteins or carbohydrates against which the adaptive immune response is desired. They are expressed by the targeted pathogen or the growing tumor. The sources of antigens used for vaccination are diverse. Attenuated or killed pathogen vaccines provide natural antigens. Subunit vaccines deliver the antigen as a recombinant protein or polypeptide, or as a nucleic acid sequence (DNA or RNA) encoding the protein. Adjuvant are substances that enhance the magnitude and durability of the antigen-specific immune responses. They include vehicles (e.g. aluminum hydroxide, emulsions) and immunostimulants (PRR agonists), and are either injected as a mixture with the antigen, or as an antigen-adjuvant conjugate.
InvivoGen offers a large choice of vaccine adjuvants, as well as model antigens derived from ovalbumin (OVA).
- Vaccine Adjuvants: InvivoGen offers adjuvants with a specific grade for preclinical studies. They include vehicles and immunostimulants, with some components sharing both properties.
- OVA Antigens: InvivoGen offers high-quality ovalbumin protein or derived peptides for class-I and class-II antigenic presentation.
