Researchers at Mayo Clinic are hacking the genetic code that controls the human response to disease vaccination, and they are using this new cipher to answer many of the deep-seated questions that plague vaccinology, including why patients respond so differently to identical vaccines and how to minimize the side effects to vaccination. Led by Gregory Poland, MD, researchers in Mayo's Vaccine Research Group are publishing results of two genetic studies that identify mutations linked to immune response to the measles vaccine. They appear in the journal Vaccine. "We are trying to understand, to the maximum extent possible, how a person's individual genetic makeup affects response to vaccination," says Poland.

Infection Control Today, 9/23/11

Tags: Infectious Diseases