Botanical immunomodulators

This book provides overview of immunoadjuvants in vaccines formulations that play an important role in the induction of effective/appropriate immune responses to vaccine component(s). Wide arrays of compounds have been studied with antigens that are poorly immunogenic over the past several years and vast majority failed due to an unacceptability safety profile. Alum is a strong inducer of humoral responses to vaccine antigens with a skew towards Th2 type of responses and has been effectively used with tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis. However, alum does not seem to be appropriate choice as a vaccines adjuvant against pathogens for which a Th1 or mixed Th1/Th2 responses are required for protection. We need better adjuvants for generation of strong Th-1 responses, which are essential for combating several lifethreatening infections. This has led to research for development of safer/effective adjuvants capable of stimulating both responses to a specific antigen. This book provides interesting results on Ayurveda based botanical: Tinospora cordifolia ,Quillaja saponaria as adjuvants in comparison with alum salts for immunoadjuvant potential against diphtheria component in DPT vaccine