Self-assembled peptide-polymer conjugates as vaccines

Peptide-based vaccines overcome most side effects associated with classical vaccines and elicit a very specific immune response. However, peptides itself are very poor immunogens and must be delivered with an immunostimulant to achieve the desired immune response. Very few adjuvants are available for vaccine formulation because most known adjuvants (usually pathogen-derived) are too toxic for human use. Therefore a delivery system is required to overcome the poor immunogenicity of peptides without causing toxic side effects. Recently, a polymer-based delivery strategy for peptide vaccines was proposed. The delivery platform described herein was able to induce both humoral and cellular immunity against short peptide epitopes to target either Group A Streptococcus infection or cervical cancer.