Recent Advances in Mucosal Vaccines

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "Pathogens-host Immune Interface".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 30026

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Immunology, Department of Virology, Parasitology and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium
Interests: mucosal immunology; mucosal vaccines; nanoparticles; gut delivery; vaccine development; infectious disease; antibody engineering; large- animal models; gut organoids
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Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Without doubt, vaccines for humans and animals have saved millions from the devastating effects of infectious diseases. Despite this success, there is an urgent need to develop novel and improved vaccines to further reduce the global burden of morbidity and mortality related to infectious diseases. Most pathogens infect the host via or at the mucosal surfaces, and a robust mucosal immunity is required to prevent pathogens from gaining a foothold on these surfaces. The majority of current licensed vaccines are, however, injectables, which mostly fail to elicit robust mucosal immune responses. Mucosal vaccines might surmount this limitation of injected vaccines, but their development is challenging due to the intrinsic nature of the mucosal surfaces to degrade antigens and prevent vaccine uptake as well as the inherent tolerogenic responses of the mucosal immune system. The scope of this Special Issue concerns recent advances in vaccine design, including formulation, delivery systems, and adjuvant technology, to overcome these hurdles in triggering protective immunity at mucosal surfaces.

Dr. Bert Devriendt
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • mucosal immunity
  • vaccines
  • adjuvants
  • mucosal delivery systems

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 1742 KiB  
Article
Type II NKT Cell Agonist, Sulfatide, Is an Effective Adjuvant for Oral Heat-Killed Cholera Vaccines
by Aqel Albutti, Stephanie Longet, Craig P. McEntee, Shauna Quinn, Alex Liddicoat, Cristiana Rîmniceanu, Nils Lycke, Lydia Lynch, Susanna Cardell and Ed C. Lavelle
Vaccines 2021, 9(6), 619; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/vaccines9060619 - 08 Jun 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2462
Abstract
Oral vaccination has the potential to offer a safer and more efficacious approach for protection against enteric pathogens than injection-based approaches, especially in developing countries. One key advantage is the potential to induce intestinal immune responses in addition to systemic immunity. In general, [...] Read more.
Oral vaccination has the potential to offer a safer and more efficacious approach for protection against enteric pathogens than injection-based approaches, especially in developing countries. One key advantage is the potential to induce intestinal immune responses in addition to systemic immunity. In general, antigen delivery via the oral route triggers weak immune responses or immunological tolerance. The effectiveness of oral vaccination can be improved by co-administering adjuvants. However, a major challenge is the absence of potent and safe oral adjuvants for clinical application. Here, the Type II NKT cell activator sulfatide is shown for the first time to be an effective oral adjuvant for Vibrio cholerae vaccine antigens in a mouse model. Specifically, administration of sulfatide with the oral cholera vaccine Dukoral® resulted in enhancement of intestinal antigen-specific IgA in addition to Th1 and Th17 immune responses. In summary, sulfatide is a promising adjuvant for inclusion in an oral cholera vaccine and our data further support the potential of adjuvants targeting NKT cells in new vaccine strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Mucosal Vaccines)
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16 pages, 3131 KiB  
Article
Intranasal Immunization of Mice with Multiepitope Chimeric Vaccine Candidate Based on Conserved Autotransporters SigA, Pic and Sap, Confers Protection against Shigella flexneri
by Yrvin León, Lionel Zapata, Raúl E. Molina, Gaj Okanovič, Leonardo A. Gómez, Carla Daza-Castro, Manuel Flores-Concha, José L. Reyes and Angel A. Oñate
Vaccines 2020, 8(4), 563; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/vaccines8040563 - 01 Oct 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2659
Abstract
Shigellosis is a diarrheal disease and the World Health Organization prompts the development of a vaccine against Shigella flexneri. The autotransporters SigA, Pic and Sap are conserved among Shigella spp. We previously designed an in silico vaccine with immunodominat epitopes from [...] Read more.
Shigellosis is a diarrheal disease and the World Health Organization prompts the development of a vaccine against Shigella flexneri. The autotransporters SigA, Pic and Sap are conserved among Shigella spp. We previously designed an in silico vaccine with immunodominat epitopes from those autotransporters, and the GroEL protein of S. typhi as an adjuvant. Here, we evaluated the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of the chimeric multiepitope protein, named rMESF, in mice against lethal infection with S. flexneri. rMESF was administered to mice alone through the intranasal (i.n.) route or accompanied with Complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) intradermically (i.d.), subcutaneously (s.c.), and intramuscular (i.m.), as well as with Imject alum (i.m.). All immunized mice increased IgG, IgG1, IgG2a, IgA and fecal IgA titers compared to PBS+CFA and PBS+alum control groups. Furthermore, i.n. immunization of mice with rMESF alone presented the highest titers of serum and fecal IgA. Cytokine levels (IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-4, and IL-17) and lymphocyte proliferation increased in all experimental groups, with the highest lymphoproliferative response in i.n. mice immunized with rMESF alone, which presented 100% protection against S. flexneri. In summary, this vaccine vests protective immunity and highlights the importance of mucosal immunity activation for the elimination of S. flexneri. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Mucosal Vaccines)
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Review

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15 pages, 1381 KiB  
Review
Delivery Routes for COVID-19 Vaccines
by Jang Hyun Park and Heung Kyu Lee
Vaccines 2021, 9(5), 524; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/vaccines9050524 - 19 May 2021
Cited by 35 | Viewed by 16852
Abstract
The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, has resulted in a pandemic with millions of deaths. To eradicate SARS-CoV-2 and prevent further infections, many vaccine candidates have been developed. These vaccines include not only traditional subunit vaccines and attenuated or inactivated viral vaccines [...] Read more.
The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, has resulted in a pandemic with millions of deaths. To eradicate SARS-CoV-2 and prevent further infections, many vaccine candidates have been developed. These vaccines include not only traditional subunit vaccines and attenuated or inactivated viral vaccines but also nucleic acid and viral vector vaccines. In contrast to the diversity in the platform technology, the delivery of vaccines is limited to intramuscular vaccination. Although intramuscular vaccination is safe and effective, mucosal vaccination could improve the local immune responses that block the spread of pathogens. However, a lack of understanding of mucosal immunity combined with the urgent need for a COVID-19 vaccine has resulted in only intramuscular vaccinations. In this review, we summarize the history of vaccines, current progress in COVID-19 vaccine technology, and the status of intranasal COVID-19 vaccines. Future research should determine the most effective route for vaccine delivery based on the platform and determine the mechanisms that underlie the efficacy of different delivery routes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Mucosal Vaccines)
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23 pages, 804 KiB  
Review
Advances in Oral Subunit Vaccine Design
by Hans Van der Weken, Eric Cox and Bert Devriendt
Vaccines 2021, 9(1), 1; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/vaccines9010001 - 22 Dec 2020
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 7169
Abstract
Many pathogens invade the host at the intestinal surface. To protect against these enteropathogens, the induction of intestinal secretory IgA (SIgA) responses is paramount. While systemic vaccination provides strong systemic immune responses, oral vaccination is the most efficient way to trigger protective SIgA [...] Read more.
Many pathogens invade the host at the intestinal surface. To protect against these enteropathogens, the induction of intestinal secretory IgA (SIgA) responses is paramount. While systemic vaccination provides strong systemic immune responses, oral vaccination is the most efficient way to trigger protective SIgA responses. However, the development of oral vaccines, especially oral subunit vaccines, is challenging due to mechanisms inherent to the gut. Oral vaccines need to survive the harsh environment in the gastrointestinal tract, characterized by low pH and intestinal proteases and need to reach the gut-associated lymphoid tissues, which are protected by chemical and physical barriers that prevent efficient uptake. Furthermore, they need to surmount default tolerogenic responses present in the gut, resulting in suppression of immunity or tolerance. Several strategies have been developed to tackle these hurdles, such as delivery systems that protect vaccine antigens from degradation, strong mucosal adjuvants that induce robust immune responses and targeting approaches that aim to selectively deliver vaccine antigens towards specific immune cell populations. In this review, we discuss recent advances in oral vaccine design to enable the induction of robust gut immunity and highlight that the development of next generation oral subunit vaccines will require approaches that combines these solutions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Mucosal Vaccines)
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