An in vitro immune response model to determine tetanus toxoid antigen (vaccine) specific immunogenicity: Selection of sensitive assay criteria.

Many vaccines employed in childhood vaccination programmes are produced by conventional techniques, resulting in complex biological mixtures for which batch-related quality control requires in vivo potency testing. Monitoring consistency via in vitro tests during the vaccine production has the capacity to replace certain of the in vivo methods. In this respect, determining vaccine antigen immunogenicity through functional immunological tests has high potential.