Synthetic Peptide Vaccines: The Quest to Develop Peptide Vaccines for Influenza, HIV and Alzheimer's Disease

摘要

The idea that the perfect vaccine would be of total synthetic making, composed only of chemically unambiguous material, dates back to the early '80s [1,2]. However, despite considerable advances in both our understanding of the triggers of a protective immune response, and our ability to assemble increasingly complex macromolecular structures, no such vaccine has yet been approved for human use. Indeed, the initial enthusiasm has later been substituted by the prevailing belief that synthetic peptide vaccines are not possible.