General Adjuvants Vehicles and Immunomodulators

An adjuvant is any substance or any formulation of substances that enhances an immune response to an Ag. As a general rule, adjuvants fall into two major categories, vehicles and immunomodulators (Van Regenmortel, 1997). 

Vehicles are those adjuvants that help carry Ags to and retain them in proximity to lymphocytes and other auxiliary 

It should be pointed out that this classification of adjuvants is based more on historical observations than on strict 

Finally, there are many examples of vaccine formulations in which individual adjuvants are used in combination with others as a way of optimizing immune efficiency and outcome. Despite the current emphasis placed on evaluating the wide variety of adjuvants in experimental use today and the myriad of possible combinations and formulations, no particular adjuvant or adjuvant system has emerged as an ideal product. Also, given the variation within a data set in which adjuvants are employed, it appears that the effectiveness of an adjuvant or adjuvant system is best evaluated on a case-by-case basis. 

Present-Day Adjuvants in Human and Animal Applications General Mechanism of Action 

---