More effective vaccines against a number of diseases (including cancer) which use a delayed-release system could be on their way.

Scientists ecased their DNA vaccines in biodegradeable spheres. The scientists are from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

These vaccines do not break down or release until they reach key locations in the body (such as lymph nodes).

This type of vaccines will be much more powerful and accurate, it should be able to target tumours (tumors).

DNA vaccines contain fragments of genetic material from a virus or bacteria (not a whole virus as in traditional vaccines).

Experts believe they will be effective against a wide range of illnesses (with much fewer side effects).

Some of them could give people lifetime protection against certain infections.

DNA sections are injected into human cells, rather than giving patients a dose of dead or weakened viruses (in order to get the immune system to respond). They cell's machinery uses this DNA information to start churning out body chemicals specific to the virus - and it is these which are picked up by the immune system.

When a real infection happens, the same proteins are produced, and the immune system detects this and launches an attack that should stop the invading organism in its tracks.

However, the machinery of the immune system is complex - and it is important that these DNA fragments make it back to the lymph nodes so that the correct immune cells can be generated.

If this does not happen, these proteins may trigger an unwelcome response in immune system cells outside the lymph nodes - and actually make the immune system downgrade the potential threat they pose, meaning the vaccine will not work properly.

The MIT researchers aimed to find a way to delay exposing the immune system to their vaccine-generated proteins until they have been carried back into the lymph nodes.

They use a biodegradeable polymer sphere which is just the right size to be picked up by immune cells called dendritic cells, whose role is to grab a potential threat - be it bacterium or virus, then move back to the lymph nodes where it can be used as the basis for a full immune response.

The dendritic cell engulfs the sphere, which does not burst immediately, but gradually breaks down and will release its content for at least 24 hours.

The researchers are hoping that this will mean a far more efficient immune response - and believe that this could mean that DNA vaccines targeting cancer could be made to work effectively.

To test this, they developed a DNA vaccine for a particular type of tumour cells in mice.

They found that their vaccine was far better at suppressing the growth of tumour cells when it was encased in the polymer sphere.