Dear Reader,
Our current issue features three papers in the section Immunotherapy: a novel anti-hypertension angiotensin-II vaccine based on hepatitis A virus-like particles (Ou, p. 1191), anti-leukemia T cells in acute myeloid leukemia (Flörcken, p. 1200), and influenza virus-specific T-cell receptor-transduced T cells as a model for adoptive immunotherapy (Berdien, p. 1205).
Several contributions relate to Cancer, including a Phase I/II study of a dendritic cell-based vaccine for renal cell cancer (Flörcken, p. 1217), and a case report showing tumor lysis in a hepatocellular carcinoma patient following peptide vaccination (Sawada, p. 1228). Two commentaries discuss peptide intra-tumor injection for cancer immunotherapy (Nobuoka, p. 1234), and a novel ganglioside-based vaccine as treatment for melanoma patients (Pérez, p. 1237).
Four contributions on Novel Vaccines deal with meningococcal serogroup B vaccines containing outer membrane vesicles (Holst, p. 1241), the evaluation of an adjuvanted glycoprotein D genital herpes vaccine in healthy adults (Leroux-Roels, p. 1254), aspects to consider for successful implementation of respiratory syncytial virus vaccination (Kaaijk, p. 1263), and the estimated impact of a malaria vaccine (Verma, p. 1268).
The section Licensed Vaccines features papers on health economic evaluations of rotavirus vaccination (Aballéa, p. 1272), reverse evidence of rotavirus vaccine impact (Martinón-Torres, p. 1289), effects of hepatitis B booster vaccination in anti-HBs-negative infants (Gu, p. 1292), epidemiological characteristics of measles and difficulties of measles elimination in China (Liu, p. 1296), trends of chickenpox in relation to varicella zoster vaccine introduction (Mimouni, p. 1303), Phase 2 evaluation of a combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine using new measles and rubella working seeds (Huang, p. 1308), and evaluation of two diphtheria-tetanus-whole cell pertussis vaccines in pre-school children (Zarei, p. 1316). Furthermore, this section contains a Letter responding to a paper on the changing epidemiology of meningococcal disease in Northern America (Bettinger, p. 1323) as well as the Reply Letter by the authors of the original article (Baccarini, p. 1325).
Two studies on Influenza Vaccines look at influenza vaccination coverage rates among diabetes patients (Jimenez-Trujillo, p. 1326), and preclinical evaluation of cell culture-derived influenza seasonal and pandemic vaccines (Smith, p. 1333).
The category Vaccine Information features two papers on immunization information systems and their use for public health research (Curran, p. 1346), and potential problems with persistance clinical studies (Cheuvart, p. 1351).
Finally, we are pleased to present a series of papers based on the 23rd National Immunisation Conference for Health Care Workers
(NIC23), held in December 2012 in Manchester, UK. Drs David Baxter from Manchester University Medical School (Manchester,
UK) and Martin Guppy (science writer and editor), Guest Editors of this Special Focus, have put together a fine selection of reviews
written by speakers of NIC23. The Special Feature starts with a summary of this year’s NIC23 (Baxter, p. 1358), and is followed by a series of Special Focus Reviews discussing the following topics: experiences with prenatal influenza vaccination (Baxter, p. 1360), the effect of ageing of the immune system on vaccination responses (Lord, p. 1364), improving vaccine uptake (Falconer, p. 1368), accessing hard to reach groups, travelers and looked after children (Print, p. 1372), evaluation of cationic liposomes as vaccines adjuvants (Perrie, p. 1374), pneumococcal vaccination in older adults: conjugate or polysaccharide (Fedson, p. 1382), evidence for use of pneumococcal conjugate over polysaccharide in children (Borrow, p. 1385), meningococcal group B vaccines (Findlow, p. 1387), and childhood MMR vaccination and whether it should be compulsory (Sheather, p. 1389).
Towards the end of this year, the 24th National Immunisation Conference for Health Care Workers will be held again in Manchester, and Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics again plans a Special Feature on this meeting.
Our monthly News, Policy & Profiles (NP&P) section provides you with a selection of the latest news in the field of vaccines and immunotherapeutics. Our NP&P track is an excellent platform to share your opinion on timely, interesting and controversial topics in the field of vaccines and/or immunotherapy. It is also a good place to present your company or organization to an interested specialist audience. Please contact the Acquisitions Editor Eva Riedmann (eva@landesbioscience.com) with your ideas for a commentary or if you would like to see your company/organization featured in a future issue of HV&I.
Finally, we want to draw your attention to several popular web site features, including an iPad application that allows you to read the full issue of HV&I anywhere, just as you would the print issue, an RSS feed to see the latest published papers, and a HV&I facebook account for daily updates.
Sincerely,
Ronald Ellis PhD
Editor-in-Chief
Eva M. Riedmann PhD
Acquisitions Editor
Footnotes
Previously published online: www.landesbioscience.com/journals/vaccines/article/25575