Defined synthetic vaccines

Although vaccines have proven very successful in preventing certain infecti ous diseases, progress in the field has been slowed by the tediousness of d eveloping classical vaccines consisting of whole pathogens. Thus, there is great need for improvement in several areas: firstly, the range of diseases which can be treated has to be expanded. Secondly, antigens have to be def ined to make the use of whole pathogens as antigen obsolete. And thirdly, n ew adjuvants have to be developed which show low toxicity, high potency and are also able to drive the immune response in the desired direction. Ideal ly, a vaccine would only consist of well-characterized, synthetic materials , This review summarizes the different approaches for the development of co mpletely defined synthetic vaccines.