ReviewEmerging microbes & infections2016
Alum: an old dog with new tricks.
Review in Emerging microbes & infections, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic Overview of Solid Particles and Their Host Responses.Frontiers in immunology · 2018Pooled it
- The adjuvant GLA-AF enhances human intradermal vaccine responses.Science advances · 2018Trial
- Changes in gene regulation are associated with the evolution of resistance to a novel parasite.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Leaf Saponins ofPharmaceutics · 2025Review
- A nanoparticle vaccine displaying the ookinete PSOP25 antigen elicits transmission-blocking antibody response against Plasmodium berghei.Parasites & vectors · 2023Article
- Research Progress of Aluminum Phosphate Adjuvants and Their Action Mechanisms.Pharmaceutics · 2023Review
- An inventory of adjuvants used for vaccination in horses: the past, the present and the future.Veterinary research · 2023Review
- Advances on the early cellular events occurring upon exposure of human macrophages to aluminum oxyhydroxide adjuvant.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Aluminum-based metal-organic framework nanoparticles as pulmonary vaccine adjuvants.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2023Article
- Article
- Ionizable Lipid Nanoparticles Enhanced the Synergistic Adjuvant Effect of CpG ODNs and QS21 in a Varicella Zoster Virus Glycoprotein E Subunit Vaccine.Pharmaceutics · 2022Article
- Developments in Vaccine Adjuvants.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2022Review
- Intracellular signaling pathway in dendritic cells and antigen transport pathway in vivo mediated by an OVA@DDAB/PLGA nano-vaccine.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2021Article
- Article
- Inflammasomes and adaptive immune responses.Nature immunology · 2021Review
- Natural and Synthetic Saponins as Vaccine Adjuvants.Vaccines · 2021Review
- Characterization of the UK anthrax vaccine and human immunogenicity.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2021Article
- Review
- Specific Immunotherapy in a Murine Model of Grass Pollen (Phl p5b)-Induced Airway Inflammation.Frontiers in allergy · 2021Article
- Use of aFrontiers in immunology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Aluminum compounds (alum) are the most widely used adjuvants in veterinary and human vaccines. Alum was initially thought to be a simple depot for antigen retention; however, our understanding of the mechanism by which it works has progressed substantially in recent decades. Nonetheless, consensus regarding its roles in different aspects of immune regulation has not been reached, and it remains a long-standing research subject in the field of vaccinology. This review, in chronological order, discusses the various hypotheses proposed in mostly inadequate attempts to illuminate the mechanism by which alum works, from the depot theory to the involvement of the NLRP3 inflammasome and from cell death-associated danger factors to crystalline structure-mediated plasma membrane alteration. In addition, novel findings of unexpected beneficial effects of decreased HBV (Hepatitis B virus) viral load and HBeAg seroconversion in chronically infected patients, as well as significant tumor suppression in experimental mice following multiple alum-only injections are examined, revealing alum's potential clinical applications beyond its use as a simple tool in antigen preparation. With increasing threats of emerging microbes, originating from natural or man-made sources, that pose significant health concerns at the population scale, the potential use of alum as a 'first-aid' vaccine is also discussed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.