Particulate delivery systems for vaccination against bioterrorism agents and emerging infectious pathogens

Abstract

Bioterrorism agents that can be easily transmitted with high mortality rates and cause debilitating diseases pose major threats to national security and public health. The recent Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa and ongoing Zika virus outbreak in Brazil, now spreading throughout Latin America, are case examples of emerging infectious pathogens that have incited widespread fear and economic and social disruption on a global scale. Prophylactic vaccines would provide effective countermeasures against infectious pathogens and biological warfare agents. However, traditional approaches relying on attenuated or inactivated vaccines have been hampered by their unacceptable levels of reactogenicity and safety issues, whereas subunit antigen-based vaccines suffer from suboptimal immunogenicity and efficacy. In contrast, particulate vaccine delivery systems offer key advantages, including efficient and stable delivery of subunit antigens, co-delivery of adjuvant molecules to bolster immune responses, low reactogenicity due to the use of biocompatible biomaterials, and robust efficiency to elicit humoral and cellular immunity in systemic and mucosal tissues. Thus, vaccine nanoparticles and microparticles are promising platforms for clinical development of biodefense vaccines. In this review, we summarize the current status of research efforts to develop particulate vaccine delivery systems against bioterrorism agents and emerging infectious pathogens.

Knowledge and attitudes towards Zika virus among medical students in King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

“…The recent Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, the MERS in the Middle East, and the ongoing Zika virus outbreak in Americas are examples of emerging infectious pathogens that have provoked widespread fear, economic and social implications worldwide [30]. Only about two-fifths of our participants recognized that Ebola virus is the most dangerous current emerging disease in West Africa.…”

Organic and inorganic nanoparticle vaccines for prevention of infectious diseases

“…Nanoparticle-based vaccines offer an alternative to conventional vaccines, with potential advantages including high payloads, tunable sizes, tailorable surface properties, controllable drug release kinetics, and improved stability [4]. Many nanoparticle vaccine platforms with additional adjuvant properties and targeting ability to antigen-presenting cells (APCs), have been developed to enhance immunity [5][6][7]. Furthermore, nanoparticles can mimic aspects of the original protein or DNA and promote interactions with host cell receptors for activation of immune response [8,9].…”

Biomaterial strategies for generating therapeutic immune responses

“…Paradoxically, strategies that target a single cytokine or factor can have off-target or difficult-to-predict effects, while those that seek to establish a specific therapeutic immune phenotype using multiple factors can produce a more “targeted” overall response. Examples discussed here will cover a range of clinical applications but will generally avoid discussions of infectious disease, the historic purview of vaccines [2,3]; rather, we will emphasize work towards raising therapeutic responses in non-infectious diseases and conditions. Indeed, one of the most exciting aspects of biomaterials’ application with immunology is how they can enable finely tuned immune strategies well beyond traditional vaccination.…”