MPL Immunostimulant: Adjuvant Formulations

Interest in new methods of potentiating the immune response against vaccine antigens has increased considerably over the past decade. In part, this interest is in response to vaccine initiatives that have established aggressive goals for improving existing vaccines and for developing much-needed new vaccines. Many of the candidate vaccine antigens being developed as part of this effort are synthetic or recombinant subunit structures that are often poorly immunogenic and as such, are unable to elicit protective immune responses in the absence of an adjuvant. Fortunately, our understanding of disease pathogenesis and the immunological mechanisms of protection have increased considerably over the past few years, thus providing an improved rational basis for the development of new adjuvants.