Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 May 29:16:31.
doi: 10.1186/s12865-015-0095-y.

Immunogenicity of infectious pathogens and vaccine antigens

Siddhartha Mahanty  1 , Antoine Prigent  2   3 , Olivier Garraud  4   5
Affiliations
Review

Immunogenicity of infectious pathogens and vaccine antigens

Siddhartha Mahanty et al. BMC Immunol. .

Abstract

The concept of the immunogenicity of an antigen is frequently encountered in the context of vaccine development, an area of intense interest currently due to the emergence or re-emergence of infectious pathogens with the potential for worldwide spread. However, the theoretical notion of immunogenicity as discussed in older textbooks of immunology needs reconsideration due to advances in our understanding of immunologic responses. Immunogenicity is a property that can either be a desirable attribute, for example in the generation of an effective protective immunity against infectious pathogens or an undesirable trait, for example when it relates to novel therapeutic compounds and drugs, where an immune response needs to be prevented or inhibited. In this Forum Article, we aimed to revisit the issue of immunogenicity to discuss a series of simple questions relevant to the concept that are frequently rephrased but incompletely resolved in the immunologic literature.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Murphy KTPWMJC. Janeway's immunobiology. New York: Garland Science; 2012.
    1. Anonymous. The American Heritage medical dictionary. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.; 2007.
    1. Randolph GJ, Angeli V, Swartz MA. Dendritic-cell trafficking to lymph nodes through lymphatic vessels. Nat Rev Immunol. 2005;5(8):617–28. doi: 10.1038/nri1670. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Shlomchik MJ, Weisel F. Germinal center selection and the development of memory B and plasma cells. Immunol Rev. 2012;247(1):52–63. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-065X.2012.01124.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Butler NS, Harris TH, Blader IJ. Regulation of immunopathogenesis during Plasmodium and Toxoplasma infections: more parallels than distinctions? Trends Parasitol. 2013;29(12):593–602. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2013.10.002. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types