Methods of priming the immunogenic activity of vaccines useful for eliciting a protective immune response
Disclosed are methods for vaccine priming, using co-treatment, at a temporally similar or at a previous time, with a priming antibody capable of priming, or enhancing, or potentiating the effects of a vaccine, or vaccine composition. Also disclosed are methods of using this process to prevent or treat disease.
1. A process for priming the immunogenic activity of a vaccine, comprising:
(a) administering to an animal in need thereof an effective amount of an antibody specific for one or more of the antigenic determinants characteristic of said vaccine useful against a virus and whose immunogenic activity is to be primed; and
(b) administering to said animal an effective amount of the vaccine, of step (a);
wherein said vaccine comprises at least one antigenic determinant for which the antibody of step (a) is not specific, and wherein said virus is selected from the group consisting of: rubella virus, measles virus, pox virus, poliovirus, rabies virus and varicella zoster virus.
2. The process of claim 1 wherein step (a) is carried out at least 24 hours before step (b).
3. The process of claim 1 wherein step (a) is carried out at least 48 hours before step (b).
4. The process of claim 1 wherein step (a) is carried out at least 72 hours before step (b).
5. The process of claim 1 wherein step (a) is carried out at least 1 week before step (b).
6. The process of claim 1 wherein the effective amount of vaccine, is between about 1 mg per kg of body weight to about 1 gram per kg body weight.
7. The process of claim 1 wherein the effective amount of vaccine, is between about 10 mg per kg of body weight to about 1 gram per kg body weight.
8. The process of claim 1 wherein the effective amount of antibody is between 5 to 20 mg/kg of body weight.
9. The process of claim 1 wherein the effective amount of antibody is between 10 to 20 mg/kg body weight.
10. The process of claim 1 wherein the effective amount of vaccine, is between about 5 μper kg of body weight to about 1 gram per kg body weight.
11. The process of claim 1 wherein the effective amount of vaccine, is between about 100 μg per kg of body weight to about 1 gram per kg body weight.