Immune boosting drugs-a myth or reality-a review

Abstract

The concept of boosting immunity was a popular one. Although the lay public is exposed to information on how to boost immunity and the only evidence-based approach to this is vaccination. The aim of this review was to analyze such immune boosters as a myth or reality and the information about immune-boosting drugs available on the Internet. Of the 30 approaches to boost immunity recorded, the top ones were diet (76%), fruit (70%), vitamins (65%), antioxidants (54%), probiotics (52%), minerals (49%), and vitamin C (56%). Interestingly, vaccines ranked 27th, with only 12% mentioning them. Commercial websites are an important component of the information available to the public on the topic and thus contribute to providing information that is biased. Vaccines have developed society by saving lives and dramatically reducing the burden of infectious disease. Most successful vaccines have been developed empirically, but recent advances in immunology are beginning to shed new light on the mechanisms of vaccine-mediated protection and the development of long-term immunity. The role of vaccination is to generate long term protection against diseases. Prime-boost vaccine strategies could improve cellular and also humoral immunity in several animal models, among various vaccine modalities. Although natural infection will often provide lifelong immunity, current vaccinations need a booster dose to achieve durable protective humoral immune responses, regardless of whether the vaccine is based on infection with replicating live-attenuated vaccine strains of the specific pathogen or whether they are derived from immunization with inactivated, non-replicating vaccines or subunit vaccines. This review discusses the recent advances in immunization and the immune boosters and decides whether these are a myth or reality.