Harnessing cooperative immune augmentation by contact allergens to enhance the efficacy of viral vaccines

Cunningham, Louise S.; McFadden, John P.; Basketter, David A.; Ferguson, Felicity J.; White, Ian R.; Kimber, Ian

Although the development of successful vaccines against coronaviruses may be achieved, for some individuals the immune response that they stimulate may prove to be insufficient for effective host defence. The principle that a relatively strong contact allergen will have an enhancing effect on sensitisation to a less potent contact allergen if they are co‐administered, may not at first appear relevant to this issue. However, this augmentation effect is thought to be due to the sharing of common or complementary pathways. Here we consider briefly aspects of the shared and complementary pathways between skin sensitisation induced by exposure to a contact allergen and the immune response to viruses, with particular reference to Covid‐19. This relationship leads us to explore whether this principle, which we name here as ‘cooperative immune augmentation’ may extend to include viral vaccination. We consider evidence that even relatively weak contact allergens, used in vaccines for other purposes, can show enhanced sensitisation, which is in keeping with a cooperative augmentation principle. Finally, we consider how the potent contact allergen diphenylcyclopropenone could be employed safely as an enhancer of vaccine responses. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.