VACCINE STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME MATERNAL ANTIBODY-MEDIATED INHIBITION OF MEASLES-VACCINE

A vaccine that is effective in the presence of maternally derived viru s neutralizing antibodies and can be administered successfully at an e arly age, would be favoured over the presently used live attenuated me asles vaccines. With the advent of new molecular and immunological tec hniques, several options for the development of new generation vaccine s, fulfilling these criteria, have arisen. We have recently evaluated the efficacy of recombinant vaccinia virus- and iscom-based candidate vaccines, presenting the F and H proteins of measles virus, in macaque s with passively transferred virus neutralizing macaque antibodies. Th e data indicate that the further exploration of the potential of iscom based measles vaccines should be encouraged. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scienc e Ltd. All rights reserved.