How does a recombinant vaccine work?

Question

Can anyone give me links to websites or explain to me the specific info and technology behind recombinant vaccines? I having trouble finding the info, would appreciate any help. Cheers

Answer 1

Recombinant vaccines are those in which genes for desired antigens are inserted into a vector, usually a virus, that has a very low virulence. The vector expressing the antigen may be used as the vaccine, or the antigen may be purified and injected as a subunit vaccine. Advantages of recombinant vaccines are that the vector can be chosen to be not only safe but also easy to grow and store, reducing production cost. Antigens which do not elicit protective immunity or which elicit damaging responses can be eliminated from the vaccine, and proteins expressed on a virus, even if it is not the usual pathogen, are more likely to have their native conformation. Disadvantages of recombinant vaccines are their cost to develop, since the genes for the desired antigens must be located, cloned, and expressed efficiently in the new vector. The only recombinant vaccine currently in use in humans is the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) vaccine, which is a recombinant subunit vaccine. Hepatitis B surface antigen is produced from a gene transfected into yeast cells and purified for injection as a subunit vaccine. This is much safer than using attenuated HBV, which could cause lethal hepatitis or liver cancer if it reverted to its virulent phenotype.

you can also get some information from below web page.

http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/vaccinations/f/FAQ_recomvacc.htm

hope it will help