Exam 3- Lecture 8: MMR Vaccine

What does MMR vaccine cover?

• Measles virus

• Mumps virus

• Rubella virus (German measles)

What is the formulation of MMR vaccine?

Live attentuated

What are measles, mumps, & rubella?

• 3 different viruses!

  • Measles & mumps cause serious illness in young children

What is the measles virus?

• Highly contagious respiratory virus ass. w/ fever & rash

  • Causes immune amnesia (kills memory B cells)

  • 1:5 children hospitalized

  • 1:20 develop pneumonia

  • 1:1000 develop encephalitis (inflammation of brain)

  • 1-3:1000 will die

What is mumps virus?

• Respiratory virus that infects in lymph nodes

  • Causes inflammation in brain, reproductive organs, pancreas

  • Hearing loss

What is rubella virus?

• Can cross placenta & infect fetus

  • Disturbs development of brain, eyes, heart, bones (microcephaly, cataracts)

  • Miscarriage is common

• Rubella can also infect children

  • Causes a 3-day rash

  • Lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph nodes)

What is the MMR vaccine?

• Introduced in 1971

• Live attenuated vaccine

  • Uses weakened versions of each virus

    • An inactivated measles vaccine was tried in 1960s, but was halted due to low efficacy

  • 2 doses

    • 97% effective against measles

    • Immunity is life-long in most people

  • Measles (2000) & Rubella (2004) were declared as “eliminated” in US

What do we rely on to protect those that cannot be vaccinated?

Herd immunity

• For MMR, goal is 95% vaccination

  • Protects those that are unresponsive to vaccine & those that cannot receive it (immunocompromised)

What is an ongoing challenge?

Vaccine hesitancy

• WHO ranked vaccine hesitancy as #8 in its “top 10 threats to global health” in 2026

What is pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine?

• Pancreatic cancer has very low survival rate

  • 5-year survival rate= 13%

• Small phase 1 clinical trial for a pancreatic cancer vaccine (16 pts)

  • Personalized mRNA vaccine

  • Designed against antigens from patient’s tumor

    • Immunotherapy

  • 8 patients had an effective response (anti-tumor T cells)

    • 7 were still alive 4-6 years later

  • Phase 2 trial starting now