Small Wonders—The Use of Nanoparticles for Delivering Antigen

Abstract

Despite the discovery of many potential antigens for subunit vaccines, universal protection is often lacking due to the limitations of conventional delivery methods. Subunit vaccines primarily induce antibody-mediated humoral responses, whereas potent antigen-specific cellular responses are required for prevention against some pathogenic infections. Nanoparticles have been utilised in nanomedicine and are promising candidates for vaccine or drug delivery. Nanoparticle vehicles have been demonstrated to be efficiently taken up by dendritic cells and induce humoral and cellular responses. This review provides an overview of nanoparticle vaccine development; in particular, the preparation of nanoparticles using a templating technique is highlighted, which would alleviate some of the disadvantages of existing nanoparticles. We will also explore the cellular fate of nanoparticle vaccines. Nanoparticle-based antigen delivery systems have the potential to develop new generation vaccines against currently unpreventable infectious diseases.

Solid Lipid Nanoparticle Carrier Platform Containing Synthetic TLR4 Agonist Mediates Non-Viral DNA Vaccine Delivery

“…Low transfection rates due to endonuclease degradation and poor cellular uptake are major barriers to the clinical application of DNA vaccines. However, the delivery of DNA vaccines by a nanoparticle carrier can improve stability and offer protection to vaccine antigens in vivo, allowing increased cell uptake and expression of encoded antigens [ 21 ]. In this study, novel cationic SLN-A nanoparticles containing the adjuvant lipid MPL-A were synthesised to serve as a delivery system for a DNA vaccine against H. pylori .…”

Vaccine Delivery Methods into the Future

“…Furthermore, bacterial toxins and DC binding peptides target antigens to DCs without the requirement of DC receptor targeting [ 20 ]. In the special issue of “Vaccine delivery”, the latest methods of, live-attenuated bacterial vectors [ 24 ], nanoparticle based vaccines [ 25 , 26 ], synthetic carriers [ 27 ], cholera toxin subunit B as an adjuvant [ 28 ] and Gavi vaccination programs [ 29 ], are extensively reviewed.…”

Platform technologies for modern vaccine manufacturing

“…Modularization with surface attached antigens often elicit superior immune responses in comparison to encapsulated antigens perhaps owing to intracellular processing which is possible for the latter [67]. Despite this, encapsulation protects antigens from protease degradation, facilitates longer circulation time and can generate effective immune responses [68][69][70]. Low encapsulation efficiency is common due to antigen loss from the vesicle during the manufacturing process which involves film extrusion and high sheer methods [71].…”