Figure 1.

Systems vaccinology: from vaccine conception and design to protection of the organism. The goal of a good vaccine is to obtain a sustained immune memory in T‐ and/or B‐cell compartments, allowing the host to respond more rapidly and with more efficiency to gain the race against an infectious challenge (prophylactic vaccines) or a tumour (therapeutic vaccines). Note that the design of the vaccine and the immunocompetence of the host are determinant for triggering an effective protection. After designing a vaccine, systems vaccinology is helpful to evaluate the host complex immune response at various levels of biological organization (from molecule to organism), considering actors from the innate or adaptive immune system. This approach establishes predictions, correlates or models that help to validate and refine the vaccine.