Nature Immunology
October 2014, Volume 15 No 10 pp895-996
http://www.nature.com/ni/journal/v15/n10/index.html

Commentary
Nonspecific effects of neonatal and infant vaccination: public-health, immunological and conceptual challenges
Peter Aaby, Tobias R Kollmann & Christine Stabell Benn
Affiliations
Corresponding author
Nature Immunology
15,895–899(2014) doi:10.1038/ni.2961
Published online
18 September 2014
Abstract
Vaccines can have nonspecific effects through their modulation of responses to infections not specifically targeted by the vaccine. However, lack of knowledge about the underlying immunological mechanisms and molecular cause-and-effect relationships prevent use of this potentially powerful early-life intervention to its greatest benefit. The World Health Organization has identified investigations into the molecular basis of nonspecific vaccine effects as a research priority.