Polymeric Nanoparticles Engineered as a Vaccine Adjuvant-Delivery System

Abstract

Global immunization saves millions of human lives each year through using vaccines, which include whole microbe-based products and the subunit ones formulated with just the components of antigens able to stimulate immune system to establish specific immunity against diseases. Subunit vaccines show numerous advantages, such as defined components, high safety profile, and production without the use of dangerous pathogens, but also limited capacity in eliciting immunity due to the lack of other components than antigens, including the immunostimulatory elements of pathogenassociated molecular patterns which are able to activate the innate immunoreponses.Recently, nanoparticles (NPs) formulated with polymeric materials, such as poly(lacticco-glycolic acid), viral proteins, chitosan, hyaluronic acid, and polystyrene, with some bearing intrinsic adjuvanticity, are widely employed as vaccine adjuvant-delivery systems (VADSs) and show great potential in developing subunit vaccines. Particularly, the polymeric NPs engineered with functional materials possess many features, such as targeting delivery, lysosome escape, anti-damaging protection, and ability to guide immune reactions toward a Th1 (T helper type 1) and Th2 pathway, which are crucial for establishing humoral and cellular immunity. This chapter describes polymeric NP-based VADSs designed for developing subunit vaccines able to elicit Ag-specific immunity at both systemic and mucosal levels via different vaccination routes.

An Overview of Nanocarrier-Based Adjuvants for Vaccine Delivery

“…Nanomedicine is a vast area that includes the use of nanoscale materials for a wide spectrum of applications from sensing, laboratory diagnostics (e.g., quantum dots) [ 2 ] to silicon microchips for drug release, micro-machined hollow needles (e.g., nanoscale microfabrication-based devices), etc. In recent years, an interesting application of nanotechnology in vaccine delivery has been exploited [ 3 , 4 ].…”

Importance of the Phospholipid Core for Mucin Hydrogel Penetration and Mucosal Cell Uptake of Maltodextrin Nanoparticles

“…MAPs are carriers made with compounds that, as their name suggests, can adhere to mucus via chemical bonds (e.g., electrostatic interactions, H bonds, or van der Waals interactions) or physical interactions (steric hindrance). They are widely developed as mucosal antigen delivery systems thanks to their ability to increase the antigen retention time in mucosa compared to classic NPs. ,,− However, their mucosal residence time is often limited by mucus clearance, including mucociliary mechanisms, and these particles can also adhere to other tissue and matter which further reduce their bioavailability.…”

Polymer-Based Nanosystems—A Versatile Delivery Approach

“…The active functional groups from the structure of chitosan can undergo reactions such as hydroxylation, carboxylation, alkylation, acylation, and esterification that help introduce pendant groups, destroy the crystal structure, and consequently enhance the solubility of the resulted material. This possibility of facile modification expands the chitosan application range and dosage form [23,66,67].…”

“…Delivery effects can be optimized as HA NPs allow selective binding to receptors, such as CD44 and TLR4, which may trigger innate immune responses. Thus, HA site-specific drug delivery systems are valuable options for the targeted release of anticancer drugs and subunit vaccines [6,21,66]. Furthermore, HA structure benefits from ease of chemical modification, extending its application possibilities in drug delivery by conjugating and functionalizing with other molecules [78].…”