Protein Based Vaccines

Protein based subunit vaccines present an antigen to the immune system without viral particles, using a specific, isolated protein of the pathogen. A weakness of this technique is that isolated proteins, if denatured, may bind to different antibodies than the protein of the pathogen. Commonly used protein-based subunit vaccines are.

Acellular pertussis (aP) vaccines contain inactivated pertussis toxin (protein) and may contain one or more other bacterial components. The pertussis toxin is detoxified either by treatment with a chemical or by using molecular genetic techniques.

Hepatitis B vaccines are composed of the hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg), a protein produced by hepatitis B virus. Earlier vaccine products were produced using purified plasma of infected individuals. This production method has been replaced by recombinant technology that can produce HBsAg without requiring human plasma increasing the safety of the vaccine by excluding the risk from potential contamination of human plasma.