Advanced Course in Immunology On Demand Lecture Recordings-Vaccines

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The lecture reviewed vaccines as a central tool in immunology and public health. It began with the history of vaccination, from Jenner’s cowpox vaccine in 1796 to the global eradication of smallpox, emphasizing that eradication only works on a worldwide scale. It then outlined major vaccine types: live attenuated, replication-defective viral vectors, inactivated vaccines, protein subunit vaccines, nucleic acid vaccines (mRNA and DNA), and vaccines against cancer.<br /><br />A major focus was on what makes vaccines effective and safe. Key issues include safety, efficacy, durability, and scalability. Vaccines work by mimicking infection through two signals: antigen plus an innate “danger” signal, often supplied by adjuvants or by the vaccine platform itself. The lecture compared immune responses induced by different vaccines, especially COVID-19 mRNA and adenovirus-based vaccines, showing differences in antibody isotypes, neutralization, complement activation, Fc-receptor binding, and mucosal versus systemic responses.<br /><br />The talk also covered B-cell and T-cell biology: germinal centers, affinity maturation, somatic hypermutation, long-lived plasma cells, memory B cells, and CD8 T-cell subsets. It highlighted that some vaccine responses, such as those to mRNA vaccines, may generate strong antibodies and memory but uncertain long-term durability.<br /><br />The final section discussed emerging factors that influence vaccine responses beyond classical lymphocytes, including B cells, platelets/thrombopoietin, neutrophil elastase, metabolism, statin use, diabetes, microbiome composition, and adjuvant choice.<br /><br />The lecture ended with HIV vaccinology, emphasizing the virus’s extreme variability and the difficulty of eliciting broadly neutralizing antibodies, while also noting promising approaches such as germline-targeting immunogens, CMV vectors, and anti-Tat vaccines.

Asset Subtitle

Lecture 23: Catarina E. Hioe, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Vaccines

Asset Caption

Catarina E. Hioe, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Vaccines

Keywords

vaccines

immunology

public health

smallpox eradication

vaccine types

mRNA vaccines

adenovirus vectors

germinal centers

memory B cells

broadly neutralizing antibodies

HIV vaccinology