INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION OF RECOMBINANT VACCINES

Recombinant vaccines are made using bacterial or yeast cells to manufacture the vaccine. A small

piece of DNA is taken from the virus or bacterium against which we want to protect. This is inserted

into other cells to make them produce large quantities of active ingredient for the vaccine (usually

just a single protein or sugar). For example, to make the hepatitis B vaccine, part of the DNA from

the hepatitis B virus is inserted into the DNA of yeast cells. These yeast cells are then able to

produce one of the surface proteins from the hepatitis B virus, and this is purified and used as the

active ingredient in the vaccine.

There are a variety of expression systems with different advantages, allowing the production of large

quantities of proteins depending on the required characteristics. The level of expression obtained

using each specific expression vector and promoter, the selection marker of choice, the presence or

absence of post-translational modification by the recombinant vector, among others, are essential

features that interfere in the efficacy of production of recombinant antigens as vaccines.

Even though vaccines based on recombinant proteins offer several advantages when compared with

traditional vaccines, such as safety and production cost, most of them present weak or poor

immunogenicity when given alone, and thereby require the use of adjuvants to elicit a protective and

long-lasting immune response. The technology of production of the HBV vaccine for eg., has been

transferred to several manufacturers and the prices have decreased due to competition, which has

rendered this vaccine affordable to most developing countries.

References:

[1] I. P. Nascimento and L. C. C. Leite, “Recombinant vaccines and the development of new

vaccine strategies,” Brazilian J. Med. Biol. Res., vol. 45, no. 12, pp. 1102–1111, 2012, doi:

10.1590/S0100-879X2012007500142.