EXPERIMENTAL MEASLES VACCINES: A RESEARCH TOOL IN VACCINATION EVENTS

The review article considers different variants of measles vaccine that may be classified into two groups, i.e., vaccines that do not contain viable measles virus, and attenuated measles vaccines which could be employed in unusual manner.The first group includes DNA-vaccines, recombinant vaccine strains encoding synthesis of measles hemagglutinin and fusion protein, as well as peptide vaccines containing molecular fragments of these proteins. The mentioned variants of vaccines were effective in animal experiments, but they have not been tested in humans. The second group includes live attenuated mucosal measles vaccins applied in combination with immunomodulator(s), as aerosol and intranasally. Efficiency of these vaccines was tested and confirmed by immunization of children and adults. Mucosal measles vaccine induces local production of IgA measles antibodies, along with induced synthesis of circulating IgM and IgG antibodies against measles. The latter experimental variant could be a live attenuated measles vaccine containing some immunity-modulating agent. Elaboration of these variant was based on the known data about transient immunosuppressive activity of measles vaccine. An appropriate experimental variant represents a mixture of attenuated measles vaccine and synthetic immunomodulating agent (MP-2 peptide) which protects T-lymphocytes from inhibitory effect of the measles virus. In present revue, some data are presented concerning the mechanisms of immunogenic activity and adverse effects of measles vaccines.