Subunit vaccines

Immune response:

• Subunit vaccines, like inactivated whole-cell vaccines do not contain live components of the pathogen. They differ from inactivated whole-cell vaccines, by containing only the antigenic parts of the pathogen. These parts are necessary to elicit a protective immune response
• This precision comes at a cost, as antigenic properties of the various potential subunits of a pathogen must be examined in detail to determine which particular combinations will produce an effective immune response witthin the correct pathway
• Often a response can be elicited, but there is no guarantee that immunological memory will be formed in the correct manner