Springer Immunobiology of Proteins and Peptides V: Vaccines Mechanisms, Design, and Applications

This symposium series was estab1ished in 1976 for the purpose of bringing together, once every two or three years, active investigators in the forefront of contemporary immuno1ogy, to present their findings, discuss their significance in the light of current concepts and identify important new directions of investigation. The founding of the symposium was stimu1ated by the achievement of major breakthroughs in the understanding of the immune recognition of proteins and peptides. We be1ieve that these breakthroughs will lead to the creation of a new generation of peptide reagents which shou1d have enormous potential in biologieal, therapeutic and basic app1ications. This anticipated explosion has since occurred and many app1ications of these peptides are now being rea1ized. The fifth symposium was devoted to the fie1d of vaccines against viral, bacteria1 and parasitic agents. Many important papers dealt with designs based on who1e partic1es, on subunits or enve10pe proteins, or on se1ected active regions of enve10pe proteins. To achieve an intelligent and effective design of a vaccine, it is crucia1 to know a great deal about the immuno1ogy of infection and about the mechanism of action of the intended vaccine. Therefore many important papers dea1ing with the details of the humoral and ce11u1ar immune responses against the infective agents were presented. How to manipu1ate the immune system, either to maximize a required antibody or T-ce11 response or to reduce its magnitude is often desired in the design of an immuno1ogica1 defense strategy.