Precision medicine has led to the identification of new biological drugs and targets for personalized treatments. A limitation of biological drugs relies on their difficulties for overcoming biological barriers. However, recent developments on drug delivery are opening new avenues that may soon make feasible the oral administration of biologics. In article number 1901935, María José Alonso and co‐workers provide an overview of the current situation, future prospects, barriers to clinical translation, and identified opportunities for advancement in this field.
Oral drug delivery is a route of choice for vaccine administration because of its noninvasive nature and thus efforts have focused on efficient delivery of vaccine antigens to mucosal sites. An effective oral vaccine delivery system must protect the antigen from degradation upon mucosal delivery, penetrate mucosal barriers, and control the release of the antigen and costimulatory and immunomodulatory agents to specific immune cells (i.e., APCs). In this paper, mannan-modified pH-responsive P(HEMA-co-MAA) nanogels were synthesized and assessed as carriers for oral vaccination. The nanogels showed pH-sensitive properties, entrapping and protecting the loaded cargo at low pH values, and triggered protein release after switching to intestinal pH values. Surface decoration with mannan as carbohydrate moieties resulted in enhanced internalization by macrophages as well as increasing the expression of relevant costimulatory molecules. These findings indicate that mannan-modified P(HEMA-co-MAA) nanogels are a promising approach to a more efficacious oral vaccination regimen.
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