Recombinant immune complexes as versatile and potent vaccines.

Immune complexes (IC) used as vaccines have the potential to enhance both antibody and cell-mediated immune responses over those obtained with antigen alone. However, difficulty of manufacture represents a significant hurdle to the widespread use of IC as vaccines. Recombinant IC (RIC) and their expression in plants enable manufacturing by the coordinate expression of immunoglobulin and antigen as a fusion protein. The use of a modular RIC system facilitates insertion of antigen genes and provides a broadly applicable platform that can be adapted for a wide variety of antigens.