Peptide vaccines for viral diseases.

The technique of vaccination developed over 200 years ago has played a major role in the control and eradication of viral diseases both in man and in animals. Most current viral vaccines are either live attenuated (weakened) or inactivated (killed) products which, despite being highly successful, can have certain limitations regarding their safety and efficacy. Furthermore, there are a number of important viral diseases for which it has not been possible to develop vaccines by conventional means. Armed with an increased knowledge of the molecular structure of viruses and the requirements for a protective immune response, scientists have recently turned their attention to novel vaccine approaches. One such approach has been to define sites on a virus particle responsible for eliciting protective immunity and to use chemically or biologically synthesized short chains of amino acids (peptides) representing these sites as potential vaccines. This review looks briefly at the historical background to the development of peptide vaccines for viral diseases. It then considers how appropriate peptides may be identified and the problems associated with their optimal-delivery to the immune system. Finally, it looks at the advantages of and future prospects for such technology.