Adjuvants in influenza vaccines

The effectiveness of influenza vaccines is still controversial, and the role of adjuvants in such vaccines is briefly reviewed in this paper. Inactivated whole virus vaccines may include components that function as adjuvants, meaning that additive adjuvants are often not required. MF59 and AS03 showed higher adjuvanticity than aluminum salts in several clinical studies. Recent research has suggested that immune cell recruitment is the main mechanism underlying adjuvant actions in general, and that aluminum salts induce this recruitment via inflammation at the injected site. The aspect of how oil-based adjuvants, such as MF59 and AS03, recruit immune cells remains to be clarified. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.