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Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 7, 560–561 (1 July 2008) | doi:10.1038/nrd2628

Vaccines: Mast cells key to new vaccine adjuvants

Alexandra Flemming

Emerging infections and the threat of bioterrorism have renewed interest in the development of effective vaccine adjuvants. Reporting in Nature Medicine, McLachlan and colleagues now reveal a previously unknown role of mast cells (MCs) in the induction of the antigen-specific humoral immune response, and identify MC activators as powerful vaccine adjuvants.