Vaccine immunogenetics: Bedside to bench to population

The immunogenetic basis for variations in immune response to vaccines in humans remains largely unknown. Many factors can contribute to the heterogeneity of vaccine-induced immune responses, including polymorphisms of immune response genes. It is important to identify those genes involved directly or indirectly in the generation of the immune response to vaccines. Our previous work with measles reveals the impact of immune response gene polymorphisms on measles vaccine-induced humoral and cellular immune responses. We demonstrate associations between genetic variations (single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) in HLA class I and class II genes, cytokine, cell surface receptor, and toll-like receptor genes and variations in immune responses to measles vaccine. Such information may provide further understanding of genetic restrictions that influence the generation of protective immune responses to vaccines, and eventually the development of new vaccines.